The Venetian Mask
by Coco Hiiragi
Summary: Italy can't sleep at nights, something's wrong with him, and Germany wants to know what it is. But, Italy won't talk, and runs away in the middle of the night. What will Germany do now? This is my first fic, please give it a chance.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

He was sitting in bed, awake in the middle of the night, again. Germany was still sleeping soundly by his side, with a very peaceful look on his face, which made Feliciano smile a little bit. Then he looked up, wondering what to do, since he already knew there was not a single chance to fall asleep again. He got up and walked towards the window, setting aside the curtains with his hand, just a little bit, facing outward with a sad look on his eyes. Nothing but darkness before him, he couldn't see the stars, nor the moon, nothing; he felt a little depressed.

The italian exited the room silently, preventing himself from waking up his friend. Germany's house was a little creepy at night, being so huge and obscure, but he didn't really felt scared, he had being in places that were a thousand times more fearful than that. This was Ludwig's home after all, his closest friend's house was the only place where he would feel secure no matter what, so he just walked downstairs and headed to the german's office hoping that he could get something to do.

Since he couldn't find anything but white sheets of paper, he decided to try and do some sketches, he hadn't draw in a long time, but it was an old, forgotten hobby of his. His hand first moved tiredly, making lines, randomly, trying to decide on a subject for his drawing, and then, when something came to his mind, the dancing pencil moved frantically across the paper. After a good two hours, a complex picture of a beautiful Venetian mask, covered in gorgeous details, that adorned it, it would seem that it was about to pop out the white sheet. Feliciano contemplated the picture with mixed feelings, a part of him was happy with the result; the other was lost in his memories, back at his beautiful hometown, in some marvelous festival, delightful music playing, riding a gondola through the canals.

He was so absorbed by his thoughts that he didn't notice the blond man that was approaching him, and he wouldn't have at all, if he hadn't spoke to him with that deep, sleepy, but concerned voice.

"Feliciano… what time is it? What are you doing here so late?"

He looked up to Ludwig in shock, he never let his friend know that he woke up during the night; he always went back to bed before he could notice. Not knowing what else to do he jumped to hug him throwing his drawing carelessly. "Ludwig, Ludwig, let's have some pasta! I want a midnight snack. Don't you want something too? Let's prepare some wurst, that would be good, don't you think Ludwig?" He tried his best to look as enthusiastic as always, the last thing he wanted was to worry his friend.

But the german was not buying it, he had seen the look on his ally's face, it was so different from his usual self, it seemed… broken. "Feliciano…" he sighed "Feli, what's wrong?"

He loosened the embrace "Germany… everything's ok… what are you talking about?" His voice was soft, he was getting really scared that Ludwig had discovered something he had being hiding for so long. "I'm just hungry… I'm sorry that you… why are you awake? Are you hungry too?" He gave a weird smile to his friend, hoping that we would stop asking questions.

"Stop it" Ludwig was looking directly into his eyes, not his usual stern look but an almost painful one. "Don't play dumb with me… not now… what's wrong?"

The smaller man ran out of words, he didn't know what to so anymore and began shaking, he tried to head towards the door, but the blond man didn't allow him to do it. When Ludwig grabbed his arm, he finally couldn't take it anymore, he violently freed himself and stood there, unable to see his friend in the eyes. "I'm sorry…" He whispered before exiting the room.

Ludwig didn't move, even when he heard the front door closing, he wasn't good with emotions, and now he was extremely confused, as much as he could be. _What was that? Did Italy just run away in the middle of the night? Should I chase him? _But he couldn't do anything, he just went to his desk and sat on his chair, looking around, trying to understand. Suddenly he saw it. An astonishing drawing on the floor… it seemed familiar, where had he seen these things before?

And then it hit him. It was a mask from the Venice festival, a mask that was left behind.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks so much for reading my story, this chapter is a bit small, but I'm working on the third one, and it will be longer, and more interesting.

Also a big thank you to xxxrawrtasticxxx for the review, and to everyone that took the time to read! I'll probably upload chapter 3 at night, if I finish, since it's saturday and I have enough time today. It won't be as fast during week days, but I'll try my best!

Coco~

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><p>Chapter 2<p>

When he got to his house, the dawn was already approaching; breathless he headed to the door. He didn't remember ever running so much in his life before, but he did remember feeling like this once, long ago. As if he had lost something important, no, the most important thing in his life.

But maybe he was overreacting, what if Ludwig didn't really understood, he could try and say some silly lie… _I had a nightmare, your house was so dark, you scared me, I though you were England_… No, that was not going to help, the german may not know exactly what happened, but he noticed something, he wasn't stupid, he wouldn't stop asking until he got an answer. But Feliciano didn't want to answer anything.

A bit hesitantly, he opened the door and went upstairs to make sure that his brother wasn't home; the last thing that he could manage now was Lovino's outbursts. Luckily he seemed to be out, probably at Spain's house. He sighed relieved, and dropped himself on the bed, just wanting to sleep, it had being a terrible night, a very long one, and stressful too, he just wanted to fall asleep already and wake up discovering it was just a dream. If only it was a dream… "Ludwig" he whispered before everything faded to black.

It was about to be seven in the morning when a voice woke up Ludwig, he had a headache, and wasn't very sure why he felt so numb. But his brother didn't give him time to remember anything.

"West what the hell are you doing sleeping in a place like this? Did you work until late again? I swear this is going to kill you one day" The Prussian was talking jokingly, and with a high voice, that was making Ludwig's headache worse. He suddenly stopped as he noticed a weird look on the blonde's face. "Hey West… what happened? Did you drink or something? The albino's voice sounded worried now.

But he wasn't listening anymore, or didn't listen at all, his eyes were fixed on the paper he had in his hands, a little wrinkled since he never released it while he slept. And now every memory from the last night was vivid on his mind "Feliciano" he murmured.

"Uh? Did something happen to Italy? Is he still sleeping?" asked Gilbert.

"He… I don't know where he is"

"What do you mean you don't know? He's always stalking you! Oh, did the little couple have a fight?"

"I don't know…"

"West, are you listening to me? You're not all flustered, I just called you guys a couple…" Now Prussia was really concerned.

"Bruder… something's wrong with Feliciano…" Ludwig said, slurring his words a bit.

Sighing he touched his brother's shoulder "Ok, now I get it, let's go have some breakfast, and then you'll tell me what happened, ok?"

Ludwig just nodded, and followed Gilbert to the kitchen, even if he was not very sure what he was going to say, he really didn't understood anything either…

It was an awkward conversation; there wasn't much to say anyways, and neither of them was sure what was wrong with the Italian, but Ludwig knew he needed to do something, anything.

The phone ringing woke up Italy, he didn't answer though, he knew who it was, and had no intention of talking to him, even if it was driving him crazy. For once he thought, _can't you leave me alone?_ In a final moment of frustration he disconnected his phone, and decided to go out, he was getting angry, and didn't even know why. The door was slammed violently by a confused Italian that was almost sure he was about to lose control.


	3. Chapter 3

Ok, here's the third one! Thanks to irene n valley and bandgeek5100 for the reviews! The fic will be updated in 2 or 3 days, please tell me if you like it so far, I would really love to know! And now, I'll stop talking and let you read xD

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><p>Chapter 3<p>

He ran, feeling completely out of himself, as if a complete stranger had taken his body. Why was he so angry? Even more, he was upset at Germany, just because he was worrying about him. No, that was totally wrong, Ludwig was his best friend, he was the only one that could stand him, although that was not entirely right, he was sure the german liked that silly personality even if he didn't say so. And that was his major issue; because he was quite sure the german would be really disappointed if he really knew what was his true self.

It wasn't as if he had being faking, he did enjoy playing dumb with everyone, particularly with Ludwig, Feliciano was just acting as a happy person, a careless kid, it was such a nice mood, he could even swear he was feeling that way. But at nights the memories would chased him, he felt tired, being joyous all day was exhausting, and it was even harder when he was alone. That was why he would go to sleep in Ludwig's bed, the first time he did, all of his worries were washed away, even if he woke during the night, that peaceful look on his face would always make him feel better. If bored, he would walk through the house; go to make some pasta, watch TV, surprisingly enough, Ludwig never seemed to notice, and the italian was always back in bed before he woke up.

*Flashback*

Ludwig opened his eyes before the sun had rise, as every morning, just to find a sleeping Italian hugging his arm tightly, with a happy, and stupid expression on his face. The german stared at him a little, blushing lightly. _Why do you have to hug me like that? _ But he would never wake Feliciano immediately, he was already used to find him sleeping by his side instead of the guest bedroom, and even if he didn't want to admit it, he somehow enjoyed having someone there, he wasn't lonely anymore and he was thankful for that. But would never say so.

Finally he spoke, with a soft, yet serious voice, as if he could hurt him if he wasn't careful. "Feliciano, it's time to get ready for training, get up already."

Italy would hold him a little tighter, to finally let go and open his hazelnut eyes lazily. "But Luddy, it's too early, even the sun is still sleeping" his voice was adorably childish.

Germany turned his face away in embarrassment for the nickname. "Sol… soldiers train early, discipline is a… ah… virtue, so get up and get dressed, and I'll wait downstairs." He hurried out of bed to prepare himself.

Feliciano stood there for a second, of course he wasn't sleeping at all, but his friend was so cute when he got all flustered. Oh, maybe he shouldn't call such a big man cute, he would get angry at him, but the italian really thought he was.

He got his uniform and go make some breakfast, Ludwig wasn't a fan of eating pasta at such a time, but he had stopped complaining a long time ago, since he didn't like his friend's disappointed face when he said he didn't want to eat it.

Finally, before going to the training camp, Ludwig tied Feliciano's shoelaces, and then, the smaller man asked for a hug, the german said that he will do it after they were done with the day's work, mainly to make him shut up, but he always kept his promises. It was some sort of routine that they did every day, for not particular reason, but it was special.

*End of flashback*

Feliciano had stopped running already, he didn't know where to go, but he was sure that he didn't want anyone to see him like this. His knees fell to the ground; tears began to run down his face, his heart was aching, he felt actual pain, he didn't want to get angry, he didn't want to feel hate or to get depressed, and yet there he was, being the most negative soul on earth. _I hate myself, I hate this disgraceful feelings, let me be a good kid, please God, don't let me be such a horrible person. _He couldn't stop himself, and just cried, not knowing for how long, he just stood there until he was too tired to keep on crying.

Ludwig left the phone on the table, it was no use, no one was answering, and it was either, an upset Romano that wouldn't let him talk to his brother or no one was home. He sighed, there should be some other way to reach the italian, and he needed to find it. Italy was acting really strangely and he was sure something was wrong, he was freaking out, it was so unlike him, but his best friend was not ok, and he was worried… way too worried. The german sat on a chair, realizing, he was even more concerned than he thought at the beginning, feeling a bit awkward.

It was his brother who brought him back from being lost in his thoughts. "So it didn't work, uh? Then we should ask someone, what about Tony, or Eliza? Do you want me to call them?"

He shook his head, he didn't do anything when Feliciano ran away last night, but he was going to do something now. "I'll go ask them by myself, if Romano is in Spain's house, I'll ask him which places I should check, he knows him better after all." His heart hurt a bit saying that, but it was true, Lovino was his brother and would know better.

"You do know that kid is going to freak out when he hear that his brother ran away from here in the middle of the night and that we don't know where he is, don't you?" Prussia was indeed worried that the stubborn Italian would cause more trouble that be of any help.

Germany nodded. "Yeah… he's going to scream at me but I… kind of disserve it, since I… really didn't chase him. Anyways that doesn't matter, I should get going." He headed to the door, and turned to his brother. "Can you stay here in case that he comes back, and call me if he does?"

"West… sure, why the hell no, go look for your Italian, the awesome me is going to stand ward in here" He smiled trying to reassure his brother.

Ludwig gave him a small thankful smile, and then exited the house. His first stop would be Spain's house, he was almost sure that Romano was there, and he really did hope that Feliciano had gone looking for his brother. He took a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it, something about that mask was intriguing him, but he couldn't decipher what it was. Folding it carefully and putting it back in its place, he left.


	4. Chapter 4

**Well, here's the new chapter, I want to say thank you to xxxrawrtasticxxx and katica333ful for the reviews, and also to everyone that added the story to their alerts or favorites, thanks a lot! **

**Today's a warning, for Romano's bad mouth... And I think that's it, I hope it's interesting enough. **

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><p>Chapter 4<p>

Lovino and Antonio were in Spain's living room, arguing as always, well, the Italian was upset at least. The older nation was trying to get Romano to go have a siesta with him, but he was failing miserably.

"Come on, you love siestas, and today is very cold, so there's no point going out of bed, it's warm and comfortable Lovi, don't you want to have a nice siesta with your admired boss?" Antonio was begging with childish voice and puppy eyes.

"Who admires you tomato bastard?" Lovino yelled at the other man, which was already getting on his nerves.

"What? But Roma, you are so lucky to have a boss like me, you should be more grateful. But boss loves you anyways!" He was now hugging him tightly with an enormous smile on his face.

"Let go of me already, you pervert! Stop hugging me bastard! Being grateful for such a stupid boss? And what's that shit about loving me? Pervert, pervert!" Lovino was freaking out and hitting Antonio, which never stopped hugging him.

"Aaaah Lovi you say really cruel things to me, but I'll forgive you, because I love you and you're so cute when you get angry."

"Bastard!" He was about to kick him, but stopped himself. "Hey tomato bastard, someone's knocking your stupid door"

Spain finally loosened the grip and headed to the door. "That really wasn't a good timing, I was having fun with my Lovi."

"Stop the nonsense, and open already! And I'm not yours!"

On the other side of the door, a german was already feeling uneasy by hearing all the yelling, he was sure the Italian rage would be directed to him soon. He knew that this was important, maybe he would find Feliciano in here, but he couldn't avoid feeling that this was going to be tough.

Spain opened the door to find Ludwig, surprisingly alone, with a depressed look on his face that he didn't fail to notice.

"Oh, Germany, haven't see you in a while, what brings you here? Is Feli coming too?" Antonio sounded cheerful despite the previous rampage.

_Then he's not here. _"It's just me, I… I wanted to ask some stuff to Romano." He tried not to sound nervous, but he wasn't very sure if it was working.

"Umm… you want to talk to Lovi?" Spain looked at him a bit suspicious. "Well, he's here, so, go ahead…"

Ludwig entered slowly, a bit unsure of what he was going to do.

"What the hell is the potato bastard doing here? It's like the bastard convention came to town!"

"Roma calm down, he said he needed to ask you something" Spain tried to calm the italian a little so that they could talk.

"Uh? What…" He looked at the german. "What do you want?"

Ludwig sighed and then spoke. "I wanted to know about this… festival in Venice, it was some kind of festival… I think."

Romano raised an eyebrow. "Festival? You mean the Mostra?"

Germany looked at him confused, he didn't understand Italian quite well. "I don't know the name…" He took the paper from his pocket and passed it to Lovino. "I want to know about he one with the masks, like this one."

Romano laughed. "You stupid, this is the Carnevale di Venezia, the carnival!"

"Lovi don't be so mean!" Spain scolded him.

The german was already quite uncomfortable, but kept talking. "What is this… carnival about?"

The Italian looked at him a bit more serious. "Can't Feliciano tell you about it way better than me?" Then he waited a second before speaking again. "Or is he mad at you? By the way, where is he? Already got tired of you?" He was trying to bother him, but the dark expression that appeared on his face was not what he was waiting for. "Where is my fratello? Did you do something to him? If something happened to him I swear I'll…"

Germany interrupted him knowing that this was going to be a pretty bad situation for himself. "He ran away."

Spain hurried to stop Romano from hitting Ludwig.

"What did you do to my brother, you bastard?" Lovino was completely out of himself.

"Lovi let him explain, or else we won't know" Antonio looked at the german. "Why are you asking about some carnival if Feli is lost? Is it related in some way?"

Noticing the stern look on the spanish eyes he felt even worse. "He drew it… He was drawing that in my office, in the middle of the night. I asked if there was something wrong… he just… I really don't know why he left, I just…"

Spain relaxed a bit but didn't let go of the smaller man. "I don't think this carnival thing is what we should be thinking of now. Do you know if he is back in Italy?"

"I called, again and again, but he never answered…"

"Antonio…" Finally Lovino spoke with a soft but upset voice. "I want to go look for him, I need you to call Hungary. And this bastard is going to Italy with me." He said looking with hatred full eyes to Germany.

"Lovi, you're taking him with you? And what does Hungary have to do with this?" Spain was a bit confused.

"She will understand, tell her what happened. And the potato bastard…" Romano was clearly not happy about going anywhere with the german. "Feli will need to talk to him…"

Ludwig wasn't very pleased to go with him either, but he was somehow relieved that someone that knew Feliciano better would go with him. He just nodded, with his eyes fixed on the floor.

Lovino headed to the door, giving back the paper to Germany. "Hurry, I don't want him to be out with such a cold weather."

He nodded again and followed the italian, closing the door after him. Leaving a very concerned Spain alone in his house.

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><p><strong>Finally they are going to look for Italy, who will certainly appear on the next chapter...<strong>

**Can you imagine Germany and Romano looking for him together? **

**Sorry if there was too much talking in this one... **

**Well, see you soon, hopefully in a couple of days, I hope I can have the next one done before the weekend. **

**Coco~**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Hi! I'm back! A new chapter is ready, sorry to keep you waiting. I hope you like this one, thanks to xxxrawrtasticxxx for the review! I'm always so happy when I read your comments! Thanks to everyone following the story and/ or adding it to alerts! Now, to chapter 5! **_

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><p>Chapter 5<p>

He didn't want to move, but the day was getting colder, and he suspected that me could get sick if he stayed there any longer, not that it would matter, but it would be easier to find him, and then, questions would come, and he didn't want any. But just then he realized, by now, everyone should know that he was gone, even more people wanting to know what happened to him. That was the worst thing, now he couldn't see anyone, did that mean that he should stay alone forever if he didn't want anyone to find out? But he was a country, he really did have to go back, but his brother could do the job. No, that was not an option, but he was completely lost, he couldn't figure what to do. Maybe if he just avoided Germany and never come out of his house again… But that was as silly as any of the other ideas.

Trying to forget about all the big issues, he started walking, no direction was chosen; he just wanted to hide in some place that no one would find. Suddenly, his memories of last night came back, he was missing Ludwig, and he didn't want to be alone forever. But he was so afraid, being hated by the person he cared the most was even worse. And it was just plain obvious that he would hate him, or at least, he wouldn't like him, his actual self was not as sweet, as silly, not so weak, not so friendly or positive.

No, he wasn't the person that the german liked; he wasn't that kind of person on the inside, he had being playing this game for so long. And for being fake, he would be hated. To the moment he noticed, he was in some barn, it wasn't the better place, but at least it wasn't full of cattle, so he decided to stay there. Being in such a lonely place, he felt even more depressed, he wanted to go back, he wanted to ask Ludwig for a hug to comfort him, he wanted to pretend to sleep by his side. Nostalgia was killing him, and it had just being one day since he ran away.

On their way to Italy, an awkward duo tried to figure out what the other one was thinking. It had been a long trip in silence, and both had serious doubts that they wanted to solve, but how do you speak to a person that either hates you, or that you hate? It was getting more stressful every minute, and they were running out of patience. The first one to break the ice was the Italian.

"The carnival… it's an old tradition, you know those ridiculous nobles without occupation. Now people wear those masks, it happens on these days, January or February I think… I don't know quite much, we don't have as much time to do that kind of stuff in the South, we have more important stuff to care about, like our freaking food! Careless fratello, what are you doing with our country!"

Germany stared at the other man confused again. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because fratello drew that for some reason, and… shit, you sure you don't know why he got upset?"

Ludwig was feeling really uneasy; he wasn't sure if Romano was a little bit too angry to help. "I don't have a clue… he was there, and pretended that nothing happened, and then I found this..."

The Italian sighed. "Maybe he was making plans for the stupid carnival, but then, he didn't need to run away… There might be something else, but if I'm right you'll need to have a long talk with him… and even if I hate you with a burning passion, maybe you'll be able to solve this."

"You actually know what's wrong with him, don't you?" He was not going to loose this chance to get some information that could help him find Feliciano.

"This just reminds me of a time were he didn't sleep much, he woke up during the night and walked through the house, he tried to hide it, but I'm his older brother damn it, how could I not notice?" His voice came out sounding somehow hurt.

_I would notice if he woke up, he end up sleeping in my bed every night, I would notice… or not? _What if he didn't notice and Feliciano was having trouble and he was just there, sleeping. He felt guilty, he didn't know if this was true, but if it was, he had failed as a friend, or whatever he was.

"Stop it" Lovino's voice was stronger now. "If you're so concerned then you don't have to be so weak, stop wasting your time feeling all depressed! You messed up, then go and help him, you bastard!"

"You hate me, then why would you want me to get him back?

"Who would have known that you were more oblivious than Feliciano… of course I hate you because he needs you more than he needs me! And I'll never say that again!" His face was slightly red, probably because he was fighting his own anger. "Just talk to him, and don't you dare hurt him! I'll kill you if you do!"

Ludwig just nodded; there was nothing else he could say to that. But he knew that he needed to find Feliciano soon, there were a lot of stuff they needed to talk about.

Back in the barn, Feliciano was just looking up to the sky, the first stars were showing, and the darkness was quickly covering everything. And there we was, feeling so depressed, he just wanted everything to go back to normal, and there should be a way. _I'm not so stupid, there should be something, I have to find out how I can go back, an excuse, or at least… I want a chance to see Ludwig again… _

He had thought of various plans already, but none was good enough, it didn't matter how many excuses he could make out, he always ended up being questioned. And then, Romano, what if he asked, he was not very good lying to his brother, or maybe his brother wasn't as easy to fool. Either way, Lovino was going to be a problem.

But suddenly a slightly good idea came to his mind, and maybe, just maybe, it could give him the chance that he was waiting for, and if it worked, he would know for sure if going back was possible. As he kept thinking of it, it resulted to be even more convenient, it was going to be a little complex, but there were good chances that he could succeed.

He hurried out of the barn, he needed to go back home to get some stuff in order to make his plan work, but his friends might be there already. Feliciano wasn't very sure how he was going to enter unnoticed, but he was determined to get this done, and nothing would stop him now. Getting a piece of paper out of his jacket, since he always had all sort of things there, just in case, he wrote rapidly, he knew every word already, it was surprisingly easy. Once he finished the message he folded the paper and put it back in his pocket. Now he was going back home.

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><p><em><strong>I think it's getting a little more interesting now... Feliciano is going back to his house, just like Ludwig and Romano. And the others are not going to let the awkward duo alone, they are going to help too! <strong>_

_**The next upload may be on wednesday if I have time to finish the chapter or maybe on thursday... I'll try my best to have it as soon as possible!**_

_**Coco~**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**I'm so sorry! I couldn't come up with a good idea before I went on vacations, so I wasn't able to update on time! I'm really sorry! This chapter is bigger, it was a bit difficult to write, but_** I hope it's good enough**_. Thanks for your reviews and for adding it to favorites or alerts! **_

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><p>Chapter 6<p>

When they finally reached the house they entered rapidly, hoping to find the younger Italian in there, but for their disappointment he was already gone. Lovino headed to his brother's room, maybe there he would be able to find some clue to what was going on with his brother. The bedroom was very tidy, no one would've believe that this was Feliciano's, but he really didn't spend a lot of time there, Romano knew it was the german's fault of course.

Trying to avoid those thoughts he kept inspecting the room, white flags were folded on the closet beside a big amount of good-looking clothes that the Italian had, multiple pairs of expensive shoes, some pasta boxes hidden here and there, nothing particularly useful. Then he carefully closed the wardrobe and looked around, and something attracted his attention. A giant shelf full of very old books, since the north Italian really likes to read even if some people wouldn't imagine so, but there was one that looked totally new. The older Vargas brother took the book, and looked at it, a disgusted expression appeared on his face. It was a german dictionary.

"Damn it fratello, why do you try so hard for some potato bastard" Lovino murmured to himself while putting the book back on its place.

While the Italian was upstairs looking for something, Ludwig was waiting nervously on the living room. Romano had said that he would go look for something, so he should just wait there. It was painfully hard to stay there doing nothing though. The german walked to the window and looked outside, it was night again already, and it had been a long day without Feliciano. Well, maybe just a long day. He shook his head, trying to think clearly, and he realized that he was just fooling himself. It was indeed a lonely day when his hyperactive friend wasn't around.

He walked away from the window; he was very tired of waiting. He gave a quick look to his surroundings, and then he noticed the phone on a coffee table. He remembered all the times that he called, thinking that maybe it was broken. He checked it; it seemed to be working just fine. He took some papers that were around, nothing seemed important, some doodles, and other nations' phone numbers. And under those sheets, there was a very small white flag. "You silly" he said with a small sad smile.

Since there was nothing helpful there he decided to check some other rooms, trying not to be very noisy, since he didn't want an angry Italian yelling at him right now.

The younger Italian stared at his house from the distance, the lights were on, that was a bad sign, they were already looking for him. He wondered who could be in there, his brother without a doubt, but what if someone else had come with him? But it wasn't that important, he knew that there wasn't so much time as to wait for whomever it was to come out, he had a lot of preparations to do for his plan. He headed to the house avoiding the windows, first thing to do was to know how many people were inside, but he couldn't be that obvious.

There was one other thing that he could do, it seemed a little risky, but maybe if it worked he would have the house for himself. But before he could do it, he saw the living room lights turn off. Now he knew his brother wasn't alone, the Italians hardly worried about turning any light off, they usually just let them all on, and since Lovino hated darkness it was just natural. This was a good chance; he quickly opened the front door, luckily without making any noise, and headed to the storage room. He heard someone walking down the stairs yelling about the lights.

"You bastard, why would you turn them off? I could kill myself in the stairs you stupid, and why didn't you wait as I said? This is not your house, and I don't care if my fratello ever said you could do as you wish here!"

Romano was yelling a lot, Feliciano was sure he had just freaked out when he noticed the house was so dark. He always reacted like that when he got scared; Lovino was so easy to read. Then, another voice made him freeze.

"Ja, ja, I'm sorry, I just thought you were spending too much on electricity, you should try and save some money if you don't want to go to bankrupt."

"I don't need your stupid advice, potato bastard!"

"I know, I know, anyways, did you find something upstairs?"

"Just white flags and pasta… stupid fratello"

"You don't need to say that. Isn't there any other place where we can look for some clue?"

In that moment Feliciano noticed that he was in trouble. He was sure it could be a stupid thing to do, but he ran upstairs, and went to his room, at least, they wouldn't come back so soon since Lovino had just checked it.

"Well, there's a storage room with random stuff we need from time to time, maybe if something's missing we could figure something out."

"You have something in mind already? Because since the very beginning it seems to me that you have an idea of what he's doing."

"Shut up! I wouldn't have you here if I could do this alone, I already told you what I knew"

Romano opened the door to the storage room, then he headed to a window and opened the curtains, to reveal the mess, it was totally packed with lots of things, paintings, sculptures, weird clothing, and a whole lot of stuff that the german couldn't define.

"Are… you sure you can tell if something's missing from here?" Ludwig asked very unsure that anyone could do that.

"Of course I can, just wait and you'll see stupid!"

Germany sighed and exited the room; he didn't want to interfere in whatever the Italian was doing in there. He looked up stairs; maybe he could find something. He knew that Lovino had already checked but he needed to give it a try too.

Feliciano heard the footsteps coming up and panicked. He would use his last resource to keep away whoever was coming. He gave a quick look around and took something before heading to the door, without opening it; he took his phone out and dialed a number. The house phone ringed, and the Italian heard someone running downstairs. That was the easy part, he prayed for it to be his fratello who answered.

"Fratello?" he murmured.

"… Is that you Feliciano?"

Italy took a deep breath; this was going to be hard. "Why are you in my house?" He said as harsh as he could.

"Where are you?" germany said ignoring the tone his friend was using.

"I need to talk to Lovino, where is he?"

"I need to talk to you first"

"Call my brother!"

Ludwig felt a bit surprised; Feliciano had never talked to him like that. With a slightly hurt voice he responded again. "He's here, but he's busy… can't you talk to me first? Felici… Feli please we need to talk"

Tears were fighting to come and he felt panic again but tried to calm down. He didn't actually wanted to lie, but it was the only thing that he had left now. "Can you two… come to St Mark's Basilica? Maybe we could… talk a bit…"

"Are you there right now?" The german's voice came out a bit happier.

"Yeah, but… come soon or I could leave." Tears were already falling through his face.

"We'll be there in no time." He was getting ridiculously anxious; he just wanted to run to find Italy.

"Yeah… thanks… Ludwig." He hung the phone and waited.

When Ludwig hung the phone he saw Romano staring at him with an astonished look on his face. "What the hell was that?"

The german just looked at him and headed to the door. "Feliciano, he said he would be in St Mark's… Bas…"

"Basilica… he said that?" Lovino was confused, he never thought that his brother would call, it was really weird, but it was the only clue they had.

"Yeah, he said that he was there, so he should be, though he said he wouldn't wait for long…" He was already exiting the house.

"Ok, ok, I get it, but you don't even know where it is you bastard, wait for me!" Romano yelled as he hurried out too.

When he finally heard the door closing, he carefully went out, the lights where off, and he didn't bother to turn them on. He walked down the stairs and headed to the living room's window, and saw them walking away. It was done, he couldn't stop crying, they were going to be so hurt when they find out that no one was waiting, but it had to be done.

Feliciano had the house for himself for a little while now, but he wasn't going to waste time. He went back to the storage room and reunited what he needed. When he was ready, he took a paper from the coffee table, wrote a message, and taking everything with him he exited the house.

He was now in need of a place to hide, but Italy has a lot of places that could be useful, he just needed to choose one. It wouldn't be that hard; the worst part of this was already done. He shook his head. He reminded himself that this plan was his chance to know if he could go back to the happy days, he needed to do his best. And also… he had been able to speak to Ludwig, even if he had lied to him, he felt a bit better after hearing his voice, it was enough for him.

Suddenly he knew the best place that he could go hide, he ran as fast as he could, it was a bit far, but it was definitely perfect.

* * *

><p><strong><em>And that's it for this update, did you like it? Can you imagine where Feli is going? Or about his plan? And what did Feli write? <em>**

**_Well, see you soon! And again thanks for reading!_**


	7. Chapter 7

_**Oh god, I'm really late again, I'm very sorry guys! I'm extremely thankful for your awesome reviews! You have no idea how they make me smile! And now for the chapter, I hope you enjoy it~**_

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><p>Chapter 7<p>

Antonio opened the door to let Hungary enter his house; she had come right after receiving a call from the spaniard, and had a worried look on her face. She took a sit in the living room and stayed in silence for a while before finally looking up to the other nation.

"How long has he been missing?" She asked hesitantly.

"About a day, I think… Eliza, Lovi said you would know what to do… But what I want to know is… do you know… why?"

Elizabetha sighed and turned to look to the left. "Not exactly, I can imagine what is going on, even if I really thought that he had already overcome this. And if I'm right, Feli ran away because he didn't want Ludwig to see him like that…"

"Like that? What do you mean?" Now he was curious, a bit confused, but he was already suspecting something.

"Don't you remember that time? I know it was long ago but… back then when holy… when he disappeared. Feliciano was completely broken, he spent almost every minute looking out the window, waiting for someone that wouldn't come back…"

He interrupted her a bit rudely. "But that… has nothing to do with this now, nothing like that has happened recently."

She gave him a scolding look. "If you listened to me, you would understand what I'm trying to say. Anyways, you probably don't remember since you were quite busy with Romano, but after some time he became kind of… well, not like himself. He didn't speak much, he gave us some weird looks, as if he was upset, because we didn't do anything I guess."

"You mean Veneciano was angry at you? But it was all Holy Rome's decision, what did he expected you to do?"

"You're getting it wrong. He wanted to be angry, but knew that feeling like that towards us was nonsense. Eventually he started acting like he does now, not exactly as he was, I always found it weird, since he was so much alike to his child self but something was different. Or at least that's what I always thought."

"So you think… he's acting like he did in that moment? But again, why would he? You know, he seemed so happy with Germany, and Ludwig wouldn't let anything bad to happen to him, so he has no reason to…"

"You're so dumb! You don't get it at all!" She was now standing in front of him. "He is not acting like that because something happened, the real issue is that he don't want Ludwig to see him like that!"

"Ah, Eliza… don't get so worked up… I wasn't trying to upset you."

She walked away and talked without looking at him. "This kid thinks more than he should, and ends up believing stuff that is not real. I'm sure it's Ludwig's turn to do something, but it wouldn't be bad either if we helped a little."

"We?" He asked hesitantly. " What do you mean, what are you planning to do?" If Elizabetha had a plan, this was about to get weird.

"Shut up, we have an important mission to accomplish. Call Gilbert… and Francis!" She said with an authoritarian voice.

"Dear God" Antonio was officially scared.

In front of a magnificent church in Venice, the awkward couple was standing in silence, one with his eyes fixed on the floor, the other one looking at him with a neutral look on his face. Finally, the german spoke softly, more likely talking to himself.

"Maybe it took us to much time to get here. He's already gone because we weren't here on time…"

Lovino sighed. This was something he had expected, but dealing with a depressed german wasn't something that he wanted to do. "I know you won't accept it, but… he lied to us…"

"Feliciano wouldn't do that!" He almost yelled. Noticing his tone, he spoke a bit softer. "There's no reason to make us come all the way here for nothing, unless…" He made a pause and closed his eyes in realization. "Unless… he wanted us to be away from the house…" It took him another moment to say what he was thinking. "He was there… wasn't he?"

"Finally you get it! We should head back as soon as possible. Damn it, fratello, I'm going to kill you for this!"

But Germany was no longer paying attention to the angry Italian. He was lost in his thoughts. _You really lied to me, didn't you? _It was hurtful to think about it, they were supposed to be friends, and yet Feliciano was hiding something from him. _Why can't you trust me? _

Suddenly a phone ringing brought him back from his thoughts, he realized it was his phone and hurried to answer.

"Hallo?"

"West, where are you? You haven't called a single time to tell me anything!"

"Bruder… sorry I… we didn't find him so… we're in Venice… but we'll be heading back to Italy's house soon."

"How can you sound so disappointed while hearing my awesome voice? Anyways, I get it, well be heading there then."

"What, wait, bruder, we? What are you…?" But it was too late; the Prussian had already hanged the phone. He was a bit confused but knew that this couldn't end well if his brother was up to something. "We need to go back, now!"

"What? What the hell? You were all depressed a second ago…" Lovino was already freaking out with these sudden emotional changes.

"Gilbert is going to your house in this moment, and apparently he's not alone, do you need any other reason?"

"Oh shit another bastard, wait… My house, no way in hell!" He turned and ran yelling in italian.

Ludwig followed him running as well. This was no time to feel blue, but he couldn't help it, Feliciano had never done anything like this before, but this was getting very confusing. But something was bothering him the most. _I don't know what's wrong, but I wonder… Are you're feeling as lonely as I am right now?_

The cool air hit his face; it felt so nice, so fresh, as if it was purifying this body. This place wasn't as far, but it did take him some time to get there, not to mention carrying everything that he had brought with no help, he was lucky to be stronger than he appeared. He looked around, this place was as gorgeous as he recalled, the mountains, the green grass, and the intense blue sky.

He walked into the small town, getting a nostalgic feeling in his chest while seeing the little houses style. _It's like being back home… a bit. _He thought while he walked at a very slow pace, this must have being the most peaceful moment he had since he ran away. This place was like a paradise lost in the mountains where he knew no one would find him. _If something goes wrong… not that I'm going to fail but… If it doesn't work… I could just stay here… right? _

After his small walk through the town he headed to his log cabin, it was a bit farther, since he wanted some privacy, not that there were much people in here, but he liked to have his own secret place. Trees surrounded it, there was a pond, and of course, it had the most wonderful mountain view that anyone could imagine. He had dreamed of bringing Ludwig here so many times, but never got the courage to do it, now he was kind of glad that he didn't.

Thinking about his friend made him feel a bit sad again, but he quickly remembered himself that he had a lot of work to do in no time. He inserted the key in the door and entered, turning on the lights. The interior was charming, wood was everywhere, a nice rug on the floor, in front of a precious fireplace made of stone, big windows that made the house look bigger, leather sofas, and a wood staircase leading to the second floor, that was more like an inner balcony where his bed was.

He rapidly lighted the fire, because the cold weather wasn't that nice to work with, and placing his luggage on the floor he started to unpack. Multiple colors showed up, shinny cloths, it was an incredible amount of things. This was going to be a good project, he hadn't done something artistic in a while, and this was perfect, it reminded him of his old times of glory.

After he had everything ready to work, he decided that it was the moment for a break; he went out locking the door behind him. Going to have a nice glass of wine in the town sounded like the perfect way to get in the right mood to work.

Romano hit the door of his house, and entered right away. He didn't expect to be trapped by an affectionate Spaniard though.

"What the hell! Let me go, you idiot!"

"Lovi I missed you so much, don't ever go away like that again, or you will make your beloved boss cry." He said with a childish voice.

"Stop it, tomato bastard, it's not the time for this!" Lovino kept yelling and struggling to loosen the grip.

Then a silky voice interrupted the noisy couple. "Oh mon cher, you're as cute as always, acting as if you didn't enjoy it~ "

"Oh no, no, no! Hell, go away! Out of my house!" Romano was no longer trying to escape the embrace, probably way too scared of getting the French near him.

"Can you stop playing that already? We have serious business to deal with here! Where is Ludwig? Oh God, you didn't left him lost in Venice or something, did you?" Elizabetha glared at the Italian.

"I'm here… sorry… Italians run too fast…" The german said while entering the house.

"West…" Gilbert approached his brother and reached for his hand, depositing a piece of paper. "This is for you, it's not very long, but since he wrote it for you, I didn't let anyone else to read it before you were here."

Ludwig looked at his brother and smiled slightly, understanding what he meant, and silently thanking him. He the proceeded to read the note, he didn't know what to expect, but this represented a little hope for him.

_Dear Ludwig:_

_I'm so sorry that I lied to you, please forgive me. I have something important to do, so you'll have to wait, I swear we'll have the chance to talk. I just have something very important that I want you to do. Attend the Carnival, please be there, and don't miss a single day. _

_Feliciano_

He stared at the note, and re-read it twice. He wasn't sure what to think about it, but this was definitely what he needed to keep on going. He folded it and put it in his pocket with the drawing. Then looked up and noticed everyone looking at him.

"Well, you better explain what it said, because we need to start working on this, now!" Elizabetha said firmly.

"Ah… sure, first of all, when does the carnival starts?" He asked finally feeling that he could do something for his friend. _Just wait Feliciano, I'll be there for you soon._

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><p><strong><em>And that's it for this update, can you say where Feli is? What kind of plan can Elizabetha have in mind? <em>**

**_See you soon, with a new chapter, I love you guys! _**


	8. Chapter 8

_**Hi guys! I hope I'm not so late this time, it took me some good hours to write this one... And of course, I want to say a really, really big THANK YOU, to everyone that wrote a review, added this to favorites or alerts, thank you so much! I hope you enjoy this chapter.**_

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><p>Chapter 8<p>

The group stared at Ludwig while he read the note, they were curious, but did know that this was important for him, that he needed to take his time. Once he was finished, Elizabetha was the first one to ask about it, and instead of answering, he asked about the carnival, leaving everyone a bit confused.

"Did he say something about the carnevale?" Romano asked without letting anyone else a chance to say anything.

"He wants me to go, everyday, don't miss a single day, that's what he said." The german answered looking at the Italian.

Looking back directly, as if the other ones weren't there, Lovino kept talking. "That's all? There's no other direction, a place where you should be, did he say if he expected anyone else there of if he actually didn't want us there?"

"That was it, he didn't say anything about some place… or about someone else." He hesitated a second trying to find something that would be helpful. "But, the first thing he said was that he was sorry he lied to us, so, I guess that goes for you too…"

Lovino looked a bit surprised but immediately frowned. "You idiot, you don't need to make it look like he thought of me, don't try to make me feel better stupid!" He looked to the side before adding "but of course he should be sorry, lying to his brother, stupid fratello, you better come back and say you're sorry to my face."

Ludwig just nodded. He was starting to understand that this Italian was always going to react like this, even if he was actually grateful. He wasn't going as far as saying that Romano didn't hate him, but at least, now they were able to talk without yelling so much.

Everyone was listening in silence; they couldn't believe those two were actually talking to each other, even more ignoring them. Antonio was especially surprised, but couldn't help but smile, knowing that Romano was fighting so much to keep on hating Ludwig. _You're so silly Lovi_,the Spaniard thought.

But the Italian was already feeling awkward, so he headed upstairs. "I'll check if he did something while we were out. You better come up with some sort of plan to find him, I don't need you in my house if your doing nothing… Ah, and I don't need the french bastard in my house at all, so go away!" He said as he opened the door and entered his brother's bedroom.

"Eh? That was so rude, how can he be so mean to big brother? I won't go anywhere mon cher!" Francis said rather loudly with a fake hurt voice, he was trying to get Lovino's attention, but failed completely. "Ag, how boring, Tony your kid is not funny at all." He said, frowning.

"Ha, ha, Francis what are you saying?" Antonio laughed. "Lovi is the cutest ever, but he doesn't like you, that's a shame but you cannot help it, since you were so scary when he was a kid…"

"He was like the creepy old man that always chased him, kesese he will hate you forever, pedobear" Gilbert said while laughing hard at the offended look in his friend's face.

"Can you stop this already?" Elizabetha yelled. "How come you always forget the we have important business in our hands right now!" She seemed quite angry. "Ludwig, you haven't explained properly, the note said he lied to you, what's that about?"

"Oh, sorry, I forgot you guys didn't know what we were talking about…" He looked at her, and then at everyone else. Then, he started talking. "When we were checking the house, the phone rang and it was Feliciano… he said he was in some church, and that he wanted us to go meet him…" He sighed before saying anything else. "But he wasn't there, so he probably just wanted us to leave the house…" Without realizing it, a slightly hurt expression was showing on his face.

"Quite clever, uh?" the Hungarian said. "So he was really near, or already in the house, have you tried to call him to his cell phone?"

"Ah, no, he don't answer when I call him, and…" He stopped. "The phone rang… The phone rang! He was in here! It was disconnected when I checked, and I didn't move the phone at all! I mean, it seemed ok at first sight, but now that I think about it, the wire wasn't connected." Ludwig was talking rapidly as he understood what have happened.

"West calm down, we get it that the phone rang… ah, can we wait until tomorrow, I really think he needs some rest…" Gilbert said with a concerned voice.

"Sure, it's quite late, so it would be better if we called it a day. Everyone, go to sleep, we'll continue this on the morning!" Elizabetha spoke with her firm voice, and nobody wanted to go against her.

"I'll go look for Lovi then, I need to make sure he sleeps a bit…" Antonio stopped and looked at Francis smiling. "I'll stay with him, so don't try anything, mi amigo." Then he just turned and disappeared into the room, leaving a scared French downstairs.

"Tony can be very scary when he threatens you with such a warm smile" Francis said before going to look for a good place to sleep.

**oOoOoOoOo**

When Lovino closed the door behind himself, he felt rather relieved. _How can a house full of creepy, crazy bastards help find Feliciano? Seriously, I can't take this! _ He looked around again, and something caught his attention. He reached to the bookshelf, and closed his eyes realizing that he was right. The german dictionary was missing. "Damn it fratello, damn it, stop being stupid already!"

He sat down on his brother's bed, thinking, he was so angry, and had a terrible headache. Now he was sure his brother was in the house the last time, if only he had stayed he could have talked to him, if only he could have been able to tell the german that he thought it was a lie since the very first moment. But the idiot looked so happy, and there was a small chance that it was true. "Damn it!"

"You need to calm down because that's not going to help at all, you know?" A voice said while entering the room.

"Shut up, Antonio, I don't need your ridiculous advices right now!"

"What… what did you say?" The Spaniard stuttered a bit.

"Are you stupid? I said to shut…"

Antonio interrupted him. "No, no, before that, you… you actually called me by my name!" He had the dumbest smile on his face.

Lovino quickly realized what he had said and jump off the bed heading to the door as fast as he could, being blocked by the Spaniard.

"Where are you going, Lovi, say it again, can you do it? Please, please, your beloved boss wants to hear you saying his name again?" He was using his best puppy eyes to convince him.

Romano turned towards him with a completely red face. "Shut up, I won't say it, I will never say it again, and it was a stupid mistake! And I have a headache, so just shut up and go away already!" He yelled.

Spain finally stopped asking and looked at him in the eyes. "Oh Roma, sorry, I got excited about it, but I'm sorry, it's being a long, stressful day, uh? Let's just go to sleep now, ok?" He spoke with a sweet reassuring smile.

"That's what I'm trying to do, idiot, if you went away I would be able to go to sleep, and…"

Antonio interrupted again. "Oh, but I cannot leave, mi amor, Francis is in the house, do you really want to be all alone in here if he is out there?"

"What are you... I don't… agggg stop it! You can stay, but just because I don't want the creepy old man to come near me!" Now Lovino was completely embarrassed, but he was even more scared of the French man bursting into his room at night.

They settled in Feliciano's bed, Antonio strongly embracing Lovino, and the Italian grumbling in a soft voice.

Finally, before falling asleep, Lovino spoke. "And don't call me, mi amor, Antonio."

The Spaniard giggled but didn't answer; he just kissed the italian's cheek before closing his eyes, smiling, leaving a bright red color on the other man's face.

**oOoOoOoOo**

Ludwig was still sitting on the sofa in the living room by himself, he wasn't able to sleep even if he tried, and so many things were going on in his head. Feliciano, another night alone, was he feeling sad, or scared? He took the drawing out of his pocket and unfolded it, maybe this was important, and there should be a reason why his friend had hidden this from him. What were the possible meanings of this mask? Of course they were used on the carnival, but was there something else?

He was so focused on it that he didn't notice the person that was approaching him until a hand gently landed on his shoulder.

"I know it may be difficult, but you need to sleep, if you aren't well rested tomorrow you won't be able to think properly." Elizabetha said softly.

"Ja, thanks… I'll just stay here and…"

" What do you mean, here? Oh no, you're going to sleep in an appropriate bed tonight. Follow me, will look for an available room. And I won't accept a no as an answer.

Defeated he followed her, this woman had definitely attitude issues, how was she able to be so authoritarian?

She opened a door and quickly closed it. "Oh, it seems that you'll have to use Lovino's room, since Feliciano's is already occupied…" She said while smiling.

"What? You mean someone is staying in Feliciano's…"

She interrupted immediately. "Oh no, no, don't worry, it's Romano, you don't have to be concerned about someone else being in your… umm, in your friend's bedroom, I mean."

He gave her a puzzled look, but decided to ignore this weird reaction. "Are you sure Romano won't get angry at me?"

"Uh? Ah of course no, he will yell probably, but I'm sure that he would be happier to have you there than having Francis, or Gilbert."

He just nodded and entered the room, since he was completely exhausted, it didn't take him long to feel comfortable in the bed and fall asleep.

**oOoOoOoOo**

After his short trip to town, Feliciano was coming back, ready to start working, he stopped for a moment by the lake, he stared at the clock tower that was in the middle of the water. This provoked a nostalgic feeling in him, remembering that this lake wasn't here before, and as beautiful it was, he couldn't help but think about the submerged town.

But this was no time to feel depressed, so he kept walking, until he reached his log cabin again. Once he was inside, he sat on the floor, surrounded by his multiple supplies. There were just one more week until the carnival started, so he would need to work fast. Knowing that there was just one thing that he needed to finish, even if nothing else was.

He looked for the glue, scissors, feathers, paint, and some other shinny things, and then he opened a small wooden box and carefully took out a white object. This was going to be his masterpiece; he just hoped to be able to remember the exact design, since he had forgotten his sketch when he ran away. This was it. His mask, which would hopefully help him to take off the one that he had wore for so long.

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><p><em><strong>And that's it, the moment for Ludwig and Feliciano to meet again is very near. Can you imagine what will happen? And also, do you know where Feli is? See you next time! <strong>_


	9. Chapter 9

**_OMG guys I'm so sorry, I don't have excuses for abandoning this story for so long... I apologize to you, and thank those that even gave reviews, or alerts to this even if I wasn't updating. Thanks so much for keep on reading it. It's not a very long chapter, but I tried to make it nice... _**

**_Ah, and the characters belong to Hidekazu Himaruya, I guess I keep forgetting to say that~_**

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><p>Chapter 9<p>

He looked back one more time to the beautiful town that had been his refuge the last few days. This peaceful paradise was giving him hope; he was feeling so confident that nothing could go wrong with his plan. _And when everything's all right again, you'll come here with me, you'll definitely like it, it's as if this place was done for both of us_.

Feliciano turned again and headed back with a huge suitcase in hand, where he carried everything he would need. Just 2 more days until he could see him again, just a little more until he was able to know… For a second he thought about the possibility of Ludwig ending up hating him for doing all this mess, for lying to him, for so many things… But he had no time, and this was a good plan, he would listen, the Ludwig he knew would at least listen to the Italian.

**oOoOoOoOo**

Back in the Italian brother's house, everyone was reunited in the living room. Lovino had an exhausted expression, he was tired of all of these crazy people making plans, wondering were they should be during the carnival, how to tell the others if they saw Feliciano. The Italian sighed. They didn't even know how the carnival worked, did they? He was already quite aware of his brother's plan, masks, masks everywhere, no one would ever find him. _That was a clever one, stupid fratello_. He thought while walking away of the room.

In the kitchen he found a frustrated german that seemed way too distracted. Elizabetha had forced him to stay there until he ate something, but he was not hungry at all. That woman was way to authoritarian, and he was not in the mood to argue with her. The plate had been there for a couple of hours, and it was cold already, but Ludwig was lost in thoughts. He didn't even noticed Lovino until he sat to the table. For a little moment he confused him with Feliciano and blinked a couple of times incredulous, just to end up realizing this was not his Italian.

"Have they… umm decided something or…" the blond started talking trying to forget his disappointed.

Lovino's voice came out with a rather frustrated tone. "Not at all, nonsense is all that they have to say, damn it. I thought Elizabetha would do something, but she's just giving them absurd directions. No one seems to understand that they won't be able to recognize him in such an event. Stupids, bastards, my house is full of useless people!"

Ludwing sighed, he couldn't take it anymore either, no one was letting him help, he was just stuck there with food he didn't want to eat, the only thing he wanted was to go look for Feliciano, what could be so bad about it? Even if the note said he should wait, he couldn't help but wonder if his friend was feeling lonely, if he had a warm place to stay. Doing nothing was killing him, he was quite pissed by now, and they still had to wait a couple of days.

Ludwig looked up at the Italian, and talked with his stern voice. "Why did you call them then? It was your idea, you know… and now we are here wasting time while he is out there… "

"Don't you blame this on me, you bastard! You didn't chase him to start with, we wouldn't be in this situation if you've taken care of him!" Now Romano was yelling.

Ludwig looked down at the food, he knew it was his fault, but even then he was way too tired of this. He was getting angry, way too angry, with himself, with the world. He hadn't felt like this since… he couldn't actually remember feeling like this while Feliciano were there, and that was a long time ago. The sudden realization made him feel even worse. "I miss him…" he murmured more to himself, but the Italian heard him as well.

Lovino sighed once again. He couldn't believe it. When did he become the potato bastard's baby-sitter? Encouraging this guy was not even near his intentions, but it was this or going back to the crazy people on the living room. _Damn life_, he thought.

He stared angrily at him, he didn't know how to do this, he didn't want to do this, but his fratello, this damn man was the only reason Feliciano was doing this. He should be yelling at him for causing pain to his brother, but even then… Even then he knew the younger Italian cared as much for this german, and he would never admit it, but he knew it was more than that…

The smaller man got up from his chair, getting the blond one's attention. His face was completely red, he was fighting himself so much, he hated the bastard, but Feliciano would be so sad if he saw him with that kind of expression… he took a deep breath and tried to say it "Fff… fu… aggg god damn it…" He was now kicking the walls in frustration.

Ludwig looked at him trying to understand what was happening, he was as confused as he could be._ Maybe he finally lost it_, he thought.

But Lovino decided to give it one more try, he turned to look at him, looking so scary, that the german wondered if he should leave now. The Italian opened his mouth again, but before he could say anything he felt his arms being pulled up and a merry voice yelled, "FUSOSOSOSO!"

Ludwig stared with a puzzled look on his face, Romano was frozen in there, his face completely flustered, and Antonio was holding the italian's arms over his head with the dumbest smile ever.

It took one second before Lovino got crazy, hit the Spaniard on the stomach and ran upstairs cursing angrily in Italian.

And now everyone was looking at them wondering what in the world have happened, while Antonio was on the floor, still laughing. "He was trying to say it, oh god I would have never imagined this would happen ever…" He couldn't even talk, maybe it was the pain or the laughter, but he was way too happy for someone that had been hit like that.

"Ah… are you… ok?" Ludwig asked wondering if this one had lost it too.

"Ok? God I can't even… my Lovi, my silly Lovi…" He laughed a little more before getting up, and looking happily at the german. "He was trying to cheer you up, you know?"

The german looked at him with an expression of disbelief. "Cheering… me? By staring at me as if he wanted to kill me?"

Antonio stopped himself from laughing again and then explained. "That's something I taught him when he was a child, it's supposed to cheer you up…" His expression softened a bit and he continued, "You should try to change that depressed face of yours, if even Lovi is worring about you, something's not ok, don't you think? Ah, also, I don't think that's the expression you want to show to Feli, don't you?

Ludwig looked at him. He was completely shocked, Romano trying to cheer him up, Spain talking to him as if he was a kid acting spoiled. Indeed there was something quite wrong here. But the most important thing was that he was right, if Feliciano was feeling sad, seeing him like this was not going to help at all…

He decided it was time to stop playing the hurt one and actually do something. "Can you get me something to eat? This is kinda cold… and… thanks… and tell that to Romano too… though I think we won't like it." Germany talked, feeling a bit more confident, he just needed to be ready, it was just a little more after all.

Antonio smiled widely, went to the living room, and yelled. "Eliza he's ready! Oh, and he's hungry too!

* * *

><p><em><strong>And that's it, it was a bit of a happier chapter, I guess? Hope it wasn't very silly... And the next one is the beginning of the carnival, the very first day of Feli's plan~ Not to long before Feli and Ludwig meet again~ See you soon!<strong>_


	10. Chapter 10

**_Wow, I was able to update in time for once... The carnival is finally here. Thanks so much to the nice people that reviewed and add this to alerts, I hope you enjoy it._**

**_Hetalia belongs to Hidekazu Himaruya~_**

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><p>Chapter 10<p>

It was nighttime already, but the city was still gorgeous, and the preparations for the carnival were almost done, just one more day before the great event. Feliciano was a bit happy to see his beloved Venice again, but at the same time he was already getting quite nervous. He needed some courage, so he decided to go visit a place that was supposed to bring peace to you.

When he found himself in front of the St Mark's Basilica, a small pinch of pain crossed his heart, he thought of Ludwig and Lovino, standing there, feeling betrayed. For a second he wondered if it was a bad idea after all, but he really needed to cheer up, he needed to pray for everything to end just right, so he entered the magnificent church.

**oOoOoOoOo**

Back in the main house of the Italian brothers, Elizabetha had reunited everyone to discuss the plan, there was just one day left. Now that Ludwig was in better spirits, they could actually do something.

"Ok guys, there's not much time left, Francis, you take Ludwig and make sure the costume goes well on him."

The Frenchman nodded at Elizabetha, stood up and walked towards Ludwig, offering his hand to an obviously confused german.

"Costume? What do you mean by that? And… France, I won't take you hand…" Ludwig said feeling awkward.

"Oh, mon cher, I'm not asking for that, though I would be enchanted to do that… But what I need is that drawing the Feliciano made, I think the other ones still need to work with that…"

The german blushed a little while realizing his mistake. "Why do you need it?" He said while he looked into his pocket for it.

Francis sighed, before answering. " Mon dieu, Allemagne, how is Feli supposed to recognize you if you don't wear something he knows?

Elizabetha was getting tired of all of this, there was no time and they had so much work to do. "Ludwig, just go with Francis, ask him stuff while you try your outfit, and I'll talk to you later. Lovino, I need your help too, so don't you dare to escape now."

Her angry voice was enough to make everyone do as she said, Ludwig handed the drawing to Francis, and he handed it to Elizabetha. After that, both of them went upstairs, and the Hungarian showed the drawing to the Italian.

"How fast can you do this?"

Lovino looked at her with an expression of misbelieve. "You can't be asking me to do that mask… Are you out of your freaking mind?" He yelled.

The woman just smiled, but her face seemed somehow scary. "Listen Romano, this is for your brother, and I don't have time to play your games, so you better think twice the next time you feel like yelling at me, ok?" She handed the drawing to him and pointed the kitchen. "Go, I'm sure Tony will be more than happy to help you, we need that ready for tomorrow, and I'm sure you know we're just trying to help Feli and Ludwig… well, you at least want to help Feli."

Lovino sighed. This was going to be some hard work, he wasn't even that interested in art, and Feliciano was the one that loved it. But if he could do this to help his stupid brother, he had no choice but to do it. "Oh, right, I get it, I'll do it." And so Lovino headed to the kitchen followed by the happy Spaniard.

Elizabetha glared at Prussia. "Now, we have to take care of the difficult stuff, so you better behave!"

"I'm worried as well you know, no need to go crazy Eliza… Anyways, what is that big plan of yours?" Gilbert seemed far more serious that his usual self.

"That's the issue… There's no… big plan…" Elizabetha looked at him. "Well, at least not mine, but Feli seems to have one. And I want to decipher what he's going to do, just in case that he needs help…"

Now the Prussian didn't know what to think. Did she know something or not? "Then what do you suggest?"

"Gilbert, you were around when Holy Rome… the point is… Feli, you know he wasn't the same since then, did you ever noticed something that you found weird on him, in recent times I mean?"

"Eliza… you're not looking for answers, why don't you tell me already what you're thinking?"

She sighed one more time. "I think was playing dumb with everyone… and it was for a long time…"

Upstairs, Ludwig was flustered; looking at the clothes Francis was showing him… _What is this frilly outfit? _He asked in his mind.

"What do you think?" Asked France smiling. "N'est-ce pas magnifique? My masterpiece if completed and will look perfect on you"

The german felt even more awkward, if it was possible. "On me? Are you… are you suggesting that I wear that?"

Francis glared at him and spoke with a fake hurt tone. "Oh, Allemagne, how can you be so cruel, after I worked so hard to make a perfect costume for you to attend the festival. You have to wear it, put it on, now, you got to be thankful, put it on so I can adjust everything for you." He ended up smiling again.

_Oh god_, Germany thought.

That day passed rapidly, everyone busy with arrangements; they needed their own outfits, and masks. But somehow the nations were ready on time. They were almost leaving when Elizabetha called Ludwig to talk in private for a second.

"Ludwig" She started. "I'll just ask one big favor of you. Forgive him"

He frowned. "What do you …"

She interrupted "Just promise, promise that you'll try your best to do it…"

The german sighed, so she really knew more than she said. "Of course I will"

"Good, now we can go." She said as she ran to meet with the others. "To the Carnival we go!" She yelled.

**oOoOoOoOo**

The streets were beautifully decorated, brilliant colors, playful music that transmitted happiness, yet make you feel as if you were in some luxurious court of nobles; people in circus like outfits were performing on the streets. Everything was monumental, and shiny, even the huge crowd. Everyone was wearing flashy clothes, some had feathers, some had exaggerated makeup, most of them wore masks, from the traditional while mask, to the somehow scary, _medico della peste mask_.

Ludwig stand there for a moment, this was… way too much for him. First he had to wear so frilly clothes that France had made, then the mask Lovino made, now he was here by himself almost scared of so much happiness, festivity, it was overwhelming.

But he knew he was supposed to look for Feliciano, he wasn't sure how he was going to find him, maybe the Italian would actually look for him, but he wasn't that sure that he would recognize him in such clothing.

He walked throw the narrow streets of Venice, he contemplated the gondolas on the canals, decorated as well, passed the bridges to search the other side as well. This theatrical atmosphere was making him feel dizzy, he wasn't even sure where he was anymore, and every single place was packed with people.

Ludwig was about to go crazy when their eyes met through an identical mask to the one he was wearing.

Feliciano froze in his place. No one could be wearing the same mask as his, he drew it, he made it with his own hands, and there was just one person that could have it. This was not part of the plan. But before he could move the german graved his arm, strong but yet gentle.

"Feliciano… is that you?"

The Italian cursed on his mind, he would need to cut his plans for the day a little bit. He was still shocked of finding him so soon; he fought the urge to hug him right away. "Si… Lud… what are you wearing?" he said slowly looking at his best friend. Yeah, that would definitely distract him.

"Ah…" Ludwig's face turned red. "This… it's not… it was France… they forced me to… wait, that's not what you're supposed to…"

A finger on his lips interrupted him. "No, no, I didn't mean that, you're supposed to be dressed like that in a carnival. I want to know… why do you have my mask." The Italian said almost whispering.

Germany stared at him, unable to find the words that we wanted to say so badly. "I… Feliciano, I am…"

The Italian interrupted again. "Sh… I'm going to speak first." He sighed. "First of all… sorry for the other day."

Ludwig got confused for a second, until he remembered the St. Basil Basilica thing. "Oh. That… you… you lied to me… didn't you?" Suddenly he had remembered what he was trying to do.

Feliciano looked down. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that…" Then looked up to meet his friend's eyes. "I'm sorry about many things… And I don't know…" This was getting difficult, his courage was escaping him; he needed to do this before it was too late. "I don't know if you will hate me when you get to know… That's why, I ran away, and made up all of this…"

Ludwig just looked at him. This guy here was way too serious to be his Feliciano. But even then, he needed to ask so many things. "It's not… as if I could hate you… If you just told me…"

And once more the smaller man didn't let him finish. "You don't know that." He took a folded paper from his pocket and handed it to Ludwig. "Lud, go home. Read it… You'll understand. But I need you to let go of me now."

"Nein! If I do that you're going to run away again, and then I won't see you again, and…"

"Hey, hey… I'll be back here tomorrow, I promise. You're the one I'm not sure that will come back to me…" He said with a sad smile showing.

"Why would I…"

"I promise, let me go, Ludwig."

He slowly loosened the grip. "I… I will forgive you… I'll try my best to do it… so… you have to come back…"

Italy looked at him, if the mask wasn't there, the german would have seen the shocked look on his face. Then he smiled a little. "Thanks Ludwig…"

And with that he ran away and entered some alley and disappeared, leaving Ludwig with the letter in hand. And he suddenly realized. _I don't even know where I am… How I'm I supposed to get out of here? _He started walking, hoping that somehow he would be able to find his way back, so he could read the letter.

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><p><em><strong>And that's it for this week, was it ok? In the next chapter Ludwig will learn some stuff about Feli~ See You Soon!<strong>_


	11. Chapter 11

**_Again, I'm really sorry for the delay, this chapter was difficult to write, I had it almost done a week ago, but it took me a bit longer to find proper inspiration to write the letter. I'm not completely confident about this, but I really hope you like the chapter._**

**_Also, a big thank you to everyone that reviewed or added this to their alerts! Thank you so, so much! 3_**

**_Hetalia belongs to Himaruya Hidekazu_**

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><p>Chapter 11<p>

Feliciano ran through the small streets, feeling his heart running as well in his chest, he was anxious, he didn't want to stop anytime soon, he was so flustered that he didn't even want to stop and think about what have happened.

The previous events, the whole morning planning, the night before, everything was piling up on his mind. He remembered how long it took him to finally fall asleep, in the small basement where he was hiding his stuff, it was comfortable, and it wasn't ugly. He had a proper bed, a dinning table with chairs, even a small kitchen, he knew the best places in his city after all, but it was a bit humid, you couldn't help it in Venice.

He had stayed up a few hours just embracing the letter that he had worked so hard to write, there were so much feelings on it, he went from excitement to fear, the Italian had one of the longest nights of his life, just imagining as much possible scenarios as he could. Ludwig forgiving him, hating him, saying that he was a liar, hugging him, yelling, asking a lot of awkward questions, and… Ludwig not coming back… That was, without any doubt, the one that he feared the most.

It was such a horrible thing to imagine, he rolled on his mattress trying to scare that idea away. But it didn't work, he was still thinking about it, the one thing that he couldn't take, losing the most important person that he had ever again. What would happen to him if he weren't able to see Ludwig again, to hug him, or sleep by his side? Suddenly the loneliness struck him. _I cannot live without you…_ And in the moment those words escaped his mouth on a whisper, he covered his face with his hands, in realization of something that for some reason he hadn't see before.

Feliciano stood there for a moment, trembling a little, until a soft smile appeared behind his hands. In a blast of emotion he ran to his suitcase and looked for a new piece of paper, and wrote rapidly, just a few words were enough for him to feel satisfied about it. He stared at it, in misbelieve, how could it be that never knew? But it was done now, and someone peace filled his mind and finally, after folding the small paper carefully and storing it back in his suitcase, he went to sleep, just a couple of hours, but they would be enough.

The sunrise had come so fast, and yet the Italian was full of energy, he was able to hear the music that came from the outside, as if his whole city was trying to encourage him. He took it as a good sign, and went to make himself ready, he wanted to look at his best, not just for the carnival he loved so much, but also because he was going to see him, he wanted to meet him so badly, he couldn't wait.

After a quick bath, he opened the wardrobe, and took out his astonishing outfit, and began to dress up, he made sure that his hair looked perfect too, well except, of course for that rebellious curl was a lost cause. His clothes were amazing as well, the suit, mostly red with golden frills, was almost sparkling, there was also his hat, decorated with the same colors, looking a bit like a crown.

And the most important piece that completed the costume, a mask that covered half of his face, it was golden, black and white, adorned with delicate details in golden glitter.

He stared for a moment, feeling proud of his work, it was really beautiful, he was sure that he was going to be admired and yet, no one could distinguish him into the crowd. But he knew he would be able to find Ludwig, being awkward in his usual clothes, or even more, in some carnival like outfit. He laughed a little imagining the poor German wearing something like that, not that he wouldn't look fine, but there was not a single chance that he would like this clothing style.

The sudden memory of his best friend gave him the final courage that he needed to go out. It was just a matter of time until he could see him, he just needed to look a bit for him and secretly put the letter on his pocket. Then he would yell at him from a safe distance, so that he could tell him to read it. Escaping was not a problem, there was going to be thousands of people, and the streets of Venice had a bunch of secret passages. It was the perfect plan for the very first day, subtle and safe…

Well… at least that was the plan, but here he was running now, after meeting Ludwig in the most awkward situation possible, it took him a big effort to stay cool. They were so near, for a moment he just wanted to forget his complicated plan and hug him, but he knew that wasn't an option, he wasn't prepared to answer all of Ludwig's questions, he had already worked a lot to explain as much as he could on the letter.

Feeling that he needed to breath, Feliciano finally stopped running. There was no way that the German could follow him, so he felt safe enough to sit and have a little break, before going back to his hiding, he wanted to enjoy the carnival a little anyways, it was still so early, about 2 o'clock, there was still so much to see. But he was forgetting there was someone that did know Venice almost as much as he did, and that would never be fooled by any outfit.

"So, you ought me an apology, don't you?" An angry voice said behind him.

Feliciano froze in his place, and without turning he whispered. "Fratello…"

**oOoOoOoOo**

Ludwig sat down on a bench for a moment, wondering just how was he supposed to even tell someone where he was so that they could help him out of the city. His italian wasn't very good either, so he felt that he couldn't ask anyone for directions, they talked way too fast, anyways. Sighing he took his phone out, at least he could ask them to look for him, it could take a while, but he couldn't figure out something better than that. He was just anxious to get home and read his letter, more than anything.

"Hallo, ah… Hungary… I'm done here… ja, I… I'll explain later but I'm… well, I just don't know where I am, so…" He listened to her for a second and then looked around. "I'm just next to one canal, and there are some small stores… and the building is red, but there isn't any proper reference I can give you… it looks like any other place in Venice…" He took a pause to listen again and then answered with a tired voice. "Ja, I'll wait here… I won't go anywhere, I know, I'll wait for him."

This was too much, he was stuck in here until they were able to figure out where in the world was he, and it could take some time. But he knew what he wanted to do; it wasn't as comfortable as it could have being in the house, but he was impatient to know, to understand. So he took the letter out of his pocket and unfolded it. Suddenly, fear came over him. He didn't feel ready to know things that could make him hate Feliciano, even if he doubted there was something that could do that, his hands were trembling a little and he couldn't set his eyes on the paper.

He took a deep breath, and tried to remember the reasons he had to do this. Feliciano… he was scared, he had run away because he was scared, and Ludwig was his best friend and never noticed he was feeling that way… nothing more was needed, he cared too much for him as to run away from this. And having found his determination, he began to read.

"_Dear Ludwig:_

_First of all, I'm sorry, I've brought you so many problems these last days, I even lied to you the other day, but… that's not the only lie I have told you, and I need you to know, what, and why did I do it."_

He closed his eyes for a second, feeling slight pain on his chest. Were there so many lies? Was it because he couldn't trust him? He opened his eyes slowly again and continued reading.

" _I'm not sure where should I start, I guess I'll tell you what happened that night. You see… I have some… sleep issues… Actually, it's being a long time since I slept for a whole night, I can't even remember the last time, but it was probably when I was a small child. I know you may be thinking about my siestas or how hard it is for me to wake up on mornings. Well… I'm tired, really tired as you can imagine… But that's not it, not when I'm with you at least…" _

He stopped again, remembering, he was once told about this, but he didn't want to believe that he wouldn't notice. But it was true. He had failed to Feliciano, he was there sleeping so easily every night, while he was there, all by himself in the dark… the german was now feeling guilty…

"_Because I'm quite used to just stay awake, I don't really care about darkness either, sorry if I said it was scary... But it's your fault… well, not like that. How can I explain… the reason why I like to sleep in your bed, not really sleeping but anyways."_

His eyes blinked in curiosity for a second, he had always wondered about this behavior…

"_Ludwig it's 'cause you make me feel peace… the one that I lost long ago… when I see your sleeping face I don't feel frustrated or angry at myself anymore, so I can just rest by your side. But, well I don't stay in your bed all night, I usually go watch tv, or make pasta… you know, I try to distract myself, since nights are so long."_

His face felt a bit warm, but he needed to stop and think for a second. Those were lies indeed, but not very important ones… There was something that he didn't understand. It wasn't a big deal if he wasn't really afraid of darkness, but it seemed as if Feliciano had a hard time getting to the actual issue.

"_But, that's not what I had to say, and right now I feel like I can tell you everything that's on my mind… even if it will probably end up like a complete mess, please give it a chance, ok?"_

He sighed, feeling that the real thing was coming, he was trying real hard not to feel anxious, but it was proving to be a hard quest.

"_My true self is not the one that you know, it must sound horrible, but the one that you appreciate, the friend that you think you have, I'm probably way too far from that." _

Now, that did sound confusing, what in the world was the meaning of "not being the one he know?"

"_I'm not… as happy as I seem, I can feel happy of course, don't think I was lying when I was with you, 'cause in those times that you were there, I was truly feeling joy, those were the only precious moments that I was honest, so please don't think that was a lie too." _

He felt like grabbing Feliciano by the shoulders in that very moment. _What are you talking about? You're not like this, who is the person that wrote this? _He was starting to feel slight frustration.

"_But, I really can't say I'm happy, I haven't being real happy for a long time, you know, being happy, it requires peace of mind, and I totally lack it. That's why, I can't sleep, except for those moments when I'm by your side at night, of course, but even if that helps, my head is always full of confusing thoughts."_

Ludwig felt his head aching. _You're not happy? Why is that? You're always surrounded by people that cares about you. I'm there too, am I not? Isn't that enough? You being there was enough for me after all, but you_… He wasn't sure what kind of feeling he had at the moment, but it seemed like anger. But he didn't want that. He tried to calm himself before going back to reading the letter.

"_I keep on trying to act though, as if I wasn't tired of it all, as if I was still able to keep on going. Why is it that I can't say, help me? I wish so much to say it, save me from it all, but whenever I think of it I get so frustrated. I cannot ask for it, I don't want anyone messing up with my stuff, but I do hate this, then why can't I let it go?"_

He was feeling really tired already. _You're always asking for help, for the most useless things. Is this for real? Can't you trust me a little more than that? _Pain was worse now, but it was his heart. This was really hurting him.

"_You must have realized by now, how messed up I really am, I'm so sorry, for ruining the picture that you had of myself. When I first met you I didn't think that you would go as far as becoming my best friend, I couldn't have known that I would be telling you all of my horrible secrets one day. I actually hid it from everyone, even my brother."_

He remembered Lovino's angry face while saying that Feliciano felt Ludwig was more important than him. He sighed. So the big brother knew more than the younger one thought. _You should trust him a little more too… Why is it that you can't see what you have? _As weird as it felt to say it, he kind of understood Lovino's frustration now.

"_I'm a lie, you must hate my true self by now, don't you? But I wanted you to know; maybe 'cause you're the only one that I ever wanted to understand, maybe this is actually a help call? I'm so scared of you hating me, I can't bare the thought of you feeling that you don't know me, that I'm not your friend, that I don't exist as you thought I did…" _

He wondered for a second what was he feeling about Feliciano at that very moment. He was confused, not even sure that he understood everything that he had read so far. _I promised that I wouldn't hate you, I did that… but I'm kinda angry though…_

"_Please come back to me… please don't hate me, the only thing that I can assure you, it's that I wasn't lying about feeling happy by your side, the one true thing that I can trust, is you being my friend… I want to trust you, you may be thinking that I don't, but this is the first time I say anything to anyone. Does that counts as trusting to you? I beg of you Ludwig, forgive me. _

Finally, this felt a bit different. _You idiot, you should have started just like that… _He closed his eyes, then opened them again and re-read the last part. This was going to be harder than he expected. A lot of thoughts were pilling up on his mind. But the one thing that bothered him the most was the fact that Feliciano wasn't the person he knew. He said he would forgive anything, and he was almost sure he could do that, but now he was worried about being able to recognize their friendship. _I really don't know… how to feel about you now… _

After some time he decided that he needed to ask questions, and Feliciano needed to answer them. He felt really impatient already, so he took his cell phone out again and dialed a number. It took a moment for the other person to answer.

"What do you want potato bastard, I'm already looking for you, just wait were you are." Lovino said with his usual angry voice.

"I need to find him, now. I won't play this game anymore. I have questions to ask, and he will have to answer them." He tried to sound as convincing as possible, knowing that the Italian was a difficult person.

"Umm… is that so? Did you hear that? He's tired of this as well." Lovino was talking to someone else. "You better work your best 'cause you'll have to look for me instead. Piazza di San Marcos, now, go ask for directions. I found him already, so you gotta hurry."

Ludwig heard some weird noises coming from the phone, probably a couple of Italian brothers arguing. "I'll be there soon. Feliciano, you better wait there for me this time! I know that you're listening." He sighed, and made his voice softer. "I need you to be there, so wait for me, please." Then he hanged up the phone, and hurried to the first person that was near him. This was it.

* * *

><p><em><strong>So that's all for this chapter. Feli still has a lot of stuff that he haven't explained, but he will very soon. He will have to face his brother and Ludwig on the next chapter. The end is coming soon as well, there might me 3 or 4 more chapters... See you soon! <strong>_


	12. Chapter 12

_**I'm so sorry guys! It took me forever to update this, and I have no proper excuse, I'm so sorry. Thanks a lot for your reviews, I'm so glad you still want to know about this story even if it takes me so long to update! And I'll try my best to give you a new chapter soon. **_

**_Hetalia belongs to Himaruya Hidekazu_**

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><p>Chapter 12<p>

"Fratello…" Feliciano whispered without even turning back. He closed his eyes and stood there, just for a second, realizing there was no way to escape his brother.

At this point, Lovino wasn't in the mood to be nice, so he held his hand rapidly, and forced him to turn to face him. Next thing, he proceeded to remove the mask from the other Italian's face, which offered no resistance, just to find a numb expression. His eyes looked dark and lifeless, he gave the impression of someone that has just been defeated. The older brother felt confused for a moment, not sure what to say to this person that he couldn't recognize. Before he was able to say something, he heard the voice of Veneciano talking to him.

"Fratello… please… let go…" As much as he found it useless to ask his brother, he knew that if he stayed, it wouldn't take long to meet Ludwig again, and that was not how his plan was supposed to go. He wasn't ready for his friend's answer. Not yet.

But that single phrase worked against him. The older brother felt his anger coming back; it took him a moment to calm himself enough to avoid yelling in the middle of the street. He needed to say everything he had in his mind, but couldn't afford to bring the nearby crowd's attention over them. He took a deep breath before speaking again.

"You know I won't do that, so don't ask. And I think I told you already, but I'm waiting for an apology. Not just for the St. Marks incident, but also for all of this mess you've being doing. What were you thinking? Really, if you were angry at the potato bastard you just needed to look for me, you idiot!" He looked at him, silently demanding an answer.

"I'm… I'm sorry…" He looked up to meet the angry eyes on his brother's face. He wasn't sure how to keep on going. He had no clue what to say, there wasn't a plan for this, and right now he couldn't think of anything.

Suddenly, a soft melody started playing, and Romano put his free hand on his pocket, and proceeded to answer his phone, without letting go of Feliciano. "What do you want? I'm busy right now, and… what? You can't be serious… that idiot… Ok, ok, I'll look for him, yeah, I know, I'll go now." And with that he hung the phone, and looked back to his brother. "Apparently I don't have a lot of time to deal with you, so, before I get you back, I have to look for your stupid friend. You better say anything you don't want him to hear right now, 'cause you're coming with me."

Immediately, Feliciano tried to run away, but his brother held him stronger. His plan was sinking, and he was already panicking. "Fratello… Fratello let go, I can't see him right now, I'll be back, I promise, just, just…"

But Lovino wasn't going to let him finish. "Stop it already." His voice was louder this time. "There's no way in hell I'll let you go. You better start explaining why have you being running from everyone like this. And I'm not going to take some lame excuses, I'm your big brother, damn it. Why can't you trust me, you idiot…" He failed to say any other word, being so angry as he was, his mind was a complete mess, and he couldn't set his ideas in any logical order.

For a second he stood there, taking in his brother's words. He felt slight pain in his chest, noticing that he had being thinking of Ludwig all this time, and forgot someone else that was very important. There was no plan for this but he had to at least give it a try, and say something. "Fratello… I never, I'm really sorry 'cause I never thought of you..." He stopped realizing how bad that sounded. "I mean, not in that way, I do think of fratello, but I was so focused on… well… all of this… I didn't thought that I would be hurting you… I'm… so sorry, fratello…"

Lovino looked at him again, with an expression that Feliciano didn't quite understood. He sighed and talked once again. "You really don't get it, do you? You really think I'm stupid, don't you? It never crossed your mind that I would know, we lived in the same house for so long, and yet you think I wouldn't…"

The younger Italian froze. So he wasn't talking about this particular moment. He was speechless, and Romano didn't give him time to say anything else.

"But I've know, all this time, you can't fool your brother, but you were trying real hard to keep on going, weren't you? Idiot…" He looked away and kept on talking. "And also, I know, who you care the most, and it's not me. I already knew you forgot about me… And I know this is all I can do…" The soft melody played once more, Lovino looked at the name and sighed before answering.

"What do you want potato bastard, I'm already looking for you, just wait were you are." He held his brother stronger, knowing he would try to run again, and of course he was right. He turned up the volume of his phone so that Feliciano could hear it.

"I need to find him, now. I won't play this game anymore. I have questions to ask, and he will have to answer them." Ludwig's voice sounded serious, and the northern Italian felt his heart aching once again.

"Umm… is that so? Did you hear that? He's tired of this as well." He looked away again. "You better work your best 'cause you'll have to look for me instead. Piazza di San Marcos, now, go ask for directions. I found him already, so you gotta hurry."

At that point Feliciano was already trying his best to escape. "Let go, let go already, fratello! I can't see him now, please, I can't… I'm not a kid, you can't force me to see him, fratello!" But he stoped the moment he heard Ludwig talking to him.

"I'll be there soon. Feliciano, you better wait there for me this time! I know that you're listening."

"Ludwig…" he said softly, with his voice breaking.

Then a softer voice came from the phone. "I need you to be there, so wait for me, please." And then, Lovino hung the phone and looked at him.

"You heard him, and for once I agree with him, we are tired of this."

But Veneciano was no longer paying attention, he just sat on a bench that was near and kept his eyes on the floor. Romano just sighed and sat beside him, and looked up to the sky.

"You know, that even if he doesn't forgive you… I will… you better remember me this time, 'cause I won't say it again."

Feliciano just nodded. This was it.

**oOoOoOoOo**

Ludwig ran to one person to another, trying his best to understand what they were saying. It wasn't till he actually found a police officer that he was able to actually find a street that he recognized. He politely thanked the man and ran again, feeling that he was looking like a crazy person right now, and at the same time realizing he didn't care at all. It was difficult to move into the crowd, but he had no time, he was finally on the way to see him, and then… He stopped realizing he didn't know what was going to happen next.

_What am I going to say to you? I can't go there without an answer, but at the same time, I can't let go of this chance… I promised that I wouldn't hate you… but yet I don't know what I feel about you…_

He sat on a bench, determined to find out his feelings, and then rapidly reach the Italian brothers.

He took the letter out again and unfolded it. He re-read it, trying to find something that would tell him what to do. He saw a couple of words that made his chest hurt, lie, sorry… Those reminded him that he didn't know Feliciano as he thought, he felt again lost, knowing that he might not like the real self of his friend. Was it possible to be friends with someone that he didn't know? This was going quite bad already, but then he reached a phrase that made him think again.

"_Ludwig it's 'cause you make me feel peace… the one that I lost long ago… when I see your sleeping face I don't feel frustrated or angry at myself anymore"_

He found himself smiling at this. Those words… did sound like his Feliciano. Being all clingy, saying things that would make the german blush slightly. On second thought, the Italian said he was angry and hated himself, and that made him feel somehow sad. _It must have been lonely… feeling that way every night, without someone to notice… _

He was getting quite confused by now, maybe there was something that he really knew, and maybe, just maybe, the lies weren't as bad as he thought first. He kept on reading.

"_I don't want anyone messing up with my stuff, but I do hate this, then why can't I let it go?"_

Sighing, Ludwig looked up to the sky. _I do wonder as well, but I would be lying if I said I wanted you to mess up with my stuff… but you did anyways, didn't you?_

"_Please come back to me… please don't hate me, the only thing that I can assure you, it's that I wasn't lying about feeling happy by your side, the one true thing that I can trust, is you being my friend…_

And then, finally, after reading that damn letter tree times he knew what he thought of Feliciano. He was sure what he wanted to say to him, and there was no time, since he had already lost enough there thinking. He got up and looked at the way he was supposed to follow, it was very near, and he couldn't wait anymore. He ran feeling that this entire nightmare was about to finish.

**oOoOoOoOo**

Lovino sighed feeling impatient already. "How stupid do you have to be not to find the way in such a long time. That potato bastard is completely useless." He turned to look at his brother, but he didn't move at all. "He's lost, he said he was coming, so don't look so depressed, he's just lost in your stupid streets."

This time the younger Italian spoke softly. "I don't know fratello, he must hate me by now, maybe he doesn't want to see me anymore."

"What the…" Romano got up angry again. "You have no idea, that potato bastard has being looking for you all this days, and… Agg, how come you don't understand…" He sat again and looked away. "There's no way he could hate you, idiot." He mumbled.

Feliciano looked up intending to say something else but immediately shut his mouth and stared frozen to the person than was in front of him. His mind started running, he could try and run, but Romano never loosened the grip of his hand, and even then, there was no chance to escape being that Ludwig was right there. This moment was unavoidable.

"Feliciano… I have my answer to you, so please, listen to what I have to say, it's not going to be easy or short, but I have things to say, and also things that I need to ask. So please…"

Lovino turned to find the german standing in front of him, and jumped letting go of his brother. "Damn it bastard, don't appear out of nowhere!" He sighed and started walking. "I'll let you have some space, but I'll be back soon, you hear me!"

Ludwig nodded, and sat beside Feliciano that didn't move at all.

"You're not going to run this time, are you?" He asked with serious yet soft voice.

"No… I'll listen to you… there's no point on running anymore…

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><p><em><strong>Next chapter Ludwig and Feliciano are going to talk, finally! This story is very near to it's end, thanks for reading up to this point! Again, I'll try my best to update in time! See you~<strong>_


	13. Chapter 13

**_Hi guys! Finally, I have this chapter done, it's a bit short, and it was hard to write, but I really hope it's ok, 'cause it's a very important moment in the story._**

**_Again, thanks so much for the reviews, they make me very happy! _**

**_Hetalia belongs to Hidekazu Himaruya _**

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><p>Chapter 13<p>

There were some awkward minutes of silence, Feliciano's eyes fixed on the floor, while Ludwig looked for the right words to start this conversation. It was painfully obvious that the Italian was not going to say anything until his friend did something, so the German rapidly decided what he needed to do first to get some proper answers.

"Feliciano… I do have a lot of things that I want to ask; we need to talk about many issues here but before all of that… I… don't hate you... I'm not happy about all this mess you've been doing, and definitely I'm upset about this letter." He took the paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. "But you need to know, or maybe it's more like I need you to understand… even if you made every possible mistake… you can come to me... I mean..." The bigger man was stuttering a bit now, unsure if this sounded the way he wanted it to. "I'll forgive you, so… so don't run away from me…"

Ludwig seemed to be having a hard time putting his ideas in order, it had being so much easier when he was alone, and he didn't expect himself to lose his eloquence at this particular moment. But then again, he never had such a personal conversation, and talking about feelings, and stuff like that was not something he was used to. It wasn't until the instant those hazel eyes met his, with the most painful expression he had ever seen in that face, it wasn't until that very moment that he remembered what he was trying to do.

"Feliciano…" he sighed. "I don't hate you, and I won't go away, so talk to me, ok?" That was it; he wondered why it was so hard to say something so simple.

The Italian stared at his friend for a few seconds and then felt tears coming to the corners of his eyes. But he wasn't going to cry now, this wasn't the moment to do so, Ludwig didn't hate him, but he felt he wanted to hear more than that…

"I… I'm sorry…" but he couldn't finish that sentence.

"I'm not looking for apologies. That's not what I meant. I wanted you to talk to me without worrying. You said you wanted to trust me, then do so, and explain all this properly." Yeah, his eloquence was back, luckily for him, his lack of patience was helpful at the time.

Closing his mouth, Feliciano thought about it for another second. Then, he started talking with a serious face that he usually hid.

"I gave you a lot of trouble, didn't I? I… I just didn't know... how to act, in that moment I thought you would see something I wasn't intending to show you… I was scared, 'cause I knew I had lied to you, I knew you liked the cheerful side of me, and the real me… I felt sure in that moment… that you would hate me for taking that way from you…"

Ludwig felt pain on his chest again, that damn word, there was something about that word that he hated. "Don't say it… stop saying you lied…"

The small man gave him a condescending look. "But I did, to you, to my brother, to everyone… I wanted to show you a person that you would like, because that way you…" He felt the words refusing to come out, he needed to explain himself, but it sounded real bad in his head, he needed to find better words...

"Why do you hate… yourself so much? It makes me angry…" Ludwig stopped talking, he didn't want to be that harsh, but he couldn't stop himself. "I just can't take it, you're not… that's not how you…"

"That's because… I'm not a nice person, I didn't want anyone to hate me, and leave me alone again… so I turned myself into someone you could like… And, really Lud… that's just the way I am…"

"Stupid."

Feliciano's eyes widened at this, his friend never treated him like that, such a cold voice, the painful tone, and it hurt so much. But he didn't have time to respond, not that he was able to do it anyways, the shock was taking over him.

"You're getting it all wrong. You have no clue… You're not a bad person; you just blame yourself too much… Why don't you see there are a lot of people worrying about you?" He stared directly at his eyes; he saw the shock in them. He raised his voice even more. "Can't you see, that I would stay by your side even if you were as bad as you think you are?" He was already feeling rather drained, so tired, unable to say what he wanted, it was so difficult to make him understand.

And then silence. Neither of them knew what else to say at this point. It seemed like this conversation had taken the wrong direction so far. But Feliciano could see pain in Ludwig's face, and it was killing him, he desperately wanted to do something about it, he wanted to make him smile right now, but this was a serious talk, he felt really depressed himself.

"The truth…"

The Italian turned to look at the taller man sitting beside him.

"Tell me… I need to know… what was real…"

The northern Italian looked at him, his brain working as fast as he could, looking for an answer.

"I … really like… sleeping at your bed… well… I mean…" He looked away, and cursed in his head, that had sounded so wrong. But the moment he looked back he found a shocked German staring at him.

His brain had stopped working for a second, such an answer, such silly words in the most serious conversation they ever had. Ludwig wondered again, and again how to react to that, until a slight blushed appeared on his face and he felt lighter.

"That… that's so like you…" He gave the other man a relieved look. "You just… can't help but saying the silliest things, can you?" Ludwig placed his hand on Feliciano's head and ruffled his hair.

Now it was the Italian's time to be shocked, this kind hand, made him feel back in home, as if nothing had happened, just for a second though. He moved, he didn't want his friend to get it all wrong, for some reason he wanted to explain himself.

"But, I don't hate training as much, and I could be running so much faster than you, and I'm not as weak either! And I don't feel like laughing all the time, and I'm not stupid, and I don't care about darkness. And I…" he had said it all in a rush. "Damn, I don't understand… it should sound so bad, I lied, I lied a thousand times and it should sound terrible right now and yet…"

"It doesn't, you see?" Ludwig was looking up to the sky now; he had a bit more relaxed face also. "You are you, you've being trying so hard, and didn't even noticed you were worrying over nothing… You just needed to say it clearly. You can't help being yourself, 'cause you're a nice person, that's why you blame everything on yourself…"

The poor Italian stared in disbelief, still trying so hard to think of something, he needed so desperately to make Ludwig understand he wasn't a good person and yet… His eyes filled with tears, he couldn't find anything that seemed that important now, it seemed as if he had gone through all this pain just to find out that it didn't mattered at all. And it felt bad, really bad, wasting so much time… He couldn't stop the tears anymore.

Ludwig just stared at him; he looked at those tears for a second and felt his frustrations disappeared. In a sudden impulse, he pulled the smaller man into a somehow awkward hug. He was obviously embarrassed of this, but there was no way he could just let him cry like that.

"Ludwig I'm sorry, I'm so sorry"

"I know, I'm sorry as well… I should have noticed you were suffering… I'm sorry for that… I should have known before."

Then, they stopped talking, waiting for Feliciano to calm down. It took some good minutes, people were giving them so weird looks already, and Ludwig couldn't care less. The Italian, on the other hand, wouldn't let go of him, and they could have stayed like that for a while if Feliciano's stomach hadn't asked for food in the most unflattering way.

Silence. Then the Italian let go of his friend and looked away. It took the German a second to understand what had happened. But when he did, he couldn't help it but laugh out loud. Veneciano quickly gave him a surprised look. It had been so long since he heard that laugh. But as sudden as it was, it finished, and Ludwig, slightly embarrassed stood up.

"Come on… we need to look for your brother, and then we'll have something to eat, ok?"

Feliciano looked at him. It seemed so easy; it was impossible that it was as simple as this. But it was. He quickly remembered something, and put his hand on his pocket, but thinking twice he just got up and followed Ludwig.

"Hey Lud" he said as he walked. "Just remember me later that I need to give you something, ok?"

"Uh? Are you hiding something more that I should know about?" He looked back at him with a worried look.

"Don't be silly, it's nothing bad, just remind me once all this mess ends, ok?"

"If you say so…" he answered as he dialed the number of the other Italian brother. "We're done here… ja, it's ok now… Ja, I mean it, and stop yelling, we're looking for you now, where are you? Ok, ok, I'll ask him, we'll be there in a minute." And with that he hung the phone.

"Is fratello angry again?"

"Ja, but it's just the usual, nothing to worry about. By the way, I need you to guide me; this crazy city of yours is a labyrinth.

Feliciano giggled a bit; he was feelling so light right now, as he hadn't in so long. "Nonsense, it's easy Lud, you just need to spend some more time in the city, you have to come back when there's less people, I'll show you."

"I'm quite sure this city is trying to get me lost, but if you say so… Now let's go find your brother before he goes crazy…" said Ludwig faking a bothered tone.

The Italian giggled again. "I know, I know" He took Ludwig's hand and started walking while smiling. "Thank you" He whispered. And even if there was no answer, he felt his friend's hand holding his as well.

It was going to be all right from here on.

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><p><em><strong>And that's it, did you like the way it turned out? I guess there are about 2 or 3 chapters left now... Well, see you soon!<strong>_


	14. Chapter 14

**Oh god, it's being way too long, I'm really sorry about making you wait for months... It's being a weird time, and a lot happened, but I'm back, and here's the new chapter, and the next one is already half done, so it'll probably be up in a day or too. Anyways thanks so much if you're still reading this story after so much time!**

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><p>Chapter 14<p>

Lovino hung the phone and muttered something, his mood wasn't the best at the moment, but at least Feliciano was finally coming back. And even though, the southern Italian still felt a bit hurt that he was kind of ignored again, he knew this was almost over, and he would be able to question his stupid little brother as much as he wanted pretty soon.

He felt the urge to call some Spaniard to yell at him a little, but he soon reconsidered this, the bastard would tell him he was just jealous, and then he would be all happy 'cause he had called him to feel better. He shook his head furiously scaring the people near him a bit. "Not in this life, tomato bastard…" He murmured in frustration, and then he kicked a chair, while he tried to get rid of his embarrassment.

It actually didn't take long until he could spot both men arriving at the plaza were he had being waiting for the last half hour. He immediately noticed a tiny, little detail that made him even more frustrated than he already was.

Romano stared at Ludwig, as he talked with his usual annoyed loud voice. "What took the pair of clowns so long, don't you care if I'm starving by myself while you play the happy couple together through the Venice streets?"

It was barely a second of realization for Ludwig; he had looked at his outfit, then at the hand that he was holding, back at the angry Italian glaring at him, and immediately let go of Feliciano's hand, while turning his face away, earning him a satisfied look from the older Italian brother.

"Ah… we… should go to eat now, it's pretty late so…" Ludwig was stuttering, and he wasn't even sure why he was so flustered.

"Fratello, you did that on purpose!" The younger Italian said with a childish voice, and walked forward to meet his brother. He stared at him for a second and then hugged him, to the older one's surprise. "But I can't really blame you, I caused you a lot of trouble these last few days, didn't I?"

Lovino just sighed, and patted his brother's back. "You still ought me a pretty good explanation to all of this." After the northern Italian nodded, he added something. "Now food, I wasn't joking when I said I was starving, you know!"

The younger man giggled a bit, and went back to get Ludwig that was awkwardly standing some steps behind them, still a bit lost in his thoughts, and slightly shocked that he had walked hand in hand with Feliciano, wearing such an outfit all day long. It had been one messed up day, and he didn't react until he felt a hand touching his shoulder.

"Ludwig, fratello already has a table, it probably won't be a very pleasant lunch since he's still angry, and he probably wants to ask a lot of stuff but…" He doubted a second, reconsidering his words. "But please join us, si?" He gave him a little warm smile.

The German just nodded and followed him. He wasn't particularly looking forward to this, but he knew that it was one more chance to understand this whole situation a bit better, since Romano seemed to know more than he had said so far. And even though he was already feeling better, he still wondered about the origins of Feliciano's behavior.

**oOoOoOoOo**

They ate silently, but pasta and wine didn't last enough, and by the time they finished no one had started the conversation yet. Everyone seemed a bit tense, as if they were waiting for the brave one that would give the first step, but instead of that, after some minutes of never ending silence, Romano ordered some coffee. He waited till it got to the table, and finally, the questions began.

"How much have you told him?" Lovino asked referring to the German that sat beside Feliciano.

He stood there for a second before answering slowly. "What… what do you mean, fratello?"

His brother sighed. "I'll be clear to you. So don't play dumb with me. I told ya I know, 'cause I'm your older brother, and 'cause I asked Hungary as well. So, to start with, yeah, I'm aware of the reason of your lies, and also, that they are not the problem, but the consequence of it."

Feliciano's eyes widened, and he gulped, but said nothing.

"So, fratello, what I mean to ask is… Have you told him anything at all about why you've been lying to all of us? I want to hear it from you as well…"

The younger Italian stared at his brother for a moment, and then spoke. "Fratello… did you actually know about that… well, about him?" He seemed quite uncomfortable talking, and avoided Ludwig's curious eyes as much as he could.

Lovino was speechless for a second, until he understood that his brother thought he had no clue about what had happened. He felt like yelling at him for being so silly, but stopped himself. He sighed, and then kept on talking. "Feliciano... do you really think no one would know? I mean… the potato bastard over here is probably the only person that hasn't heard about it. You've got to be the worst liar ever, you know?"

Feliciano's face went completely red, and he couldn't say a word. Then he looked down; he was way too embarrassed to look back at him. And it just got worse the moment Ludwig talked.

"What do you mean I'm the only one that doesn't know? Feliciano, what…" he stopped as he noticed how flustered the smaller Italian was. He looked back at the other man across the table. "What is this all about? You all actually knew something, and didn't tell me about it?" He was suddenly remembered how everyone seemed to be aware of something. It was frustrating to think that the only person that was completely clueless was himself.

"Don't you turn against me now, potato bastard, I had enough baby-sitting you for the last days! Why am I supposed to tell you about something he didn't want to talk about himself? Damn it, you both are so troublesome, I'm tired already, ask him if you really want to know, though I can't assure he'll want to tell you, idiot." He finally stopped yelling and started drinking his coffee looking completely annoyed.

Ludwig slightly shocked looked back at Feliciano, his eyes were still on the floor, and his face still red. The blond wondered if he was supposed to ask, he couldn't help but wanting to know. "Feli… uhm… is it really that hard… is there something bad that you still can't tell me? I… well, I want to know but…" He was stuttering a lot, he was not even sure if this was important or not. Before he could keep on going, he got an answer.

"It's not something bad! It's just… kinda embarrassing… I didn't think even fratello would know… and, I guess it's related to this, somehow… even though it happened so long ago…"

Ludwig stayed silent, it felt as if he even tried to say something, Feliciano wouldn't continue.

Seeing that there was no other choice, he just sighed and began talking again. "Well, it's about… a person that I… a long time ago…" His face was burning, he had never talked about it, and the last person he wanted to hear that was Ludwig, but this was the last thing that was missing. "I had someone I… liked… and… when that person disappeared I… It just felt like everything was horrible, and I didn't want to believe he wasn't coming back… I waited for so long, and I was so angry, but it wasn't anyone's fault… I just needed to be angry… But at some point I just gave up, everyone was looking at me with pity, trying to make me feel better. But I didn't need that… it was a bit… annoying. Not that I was angry at them for caring! But, it was very… personal, you know?" He stopped for a second, he have said a lot in a rush, and wasn't sure what else to say.

"So you decided that it was better if you just looked happy, uh? That way everyone would leave you alone, but who would believe that, you moron?" Lovino didn't look at him, but Feliciano knew what he meant.

Ludwig just looked at them, thinking about some words that kept on ringing on his head. Did he just say he liked someone? Feliciano really had someone like that before? And I'm quite sure he said "he"… not that it matters… But… but that's not the point, what am I even focusing on right now!

It wasn't until that moment that the Italians noticed the confused look on the german's face. And Lovino just chuckled. "What's it, potato bastard? You jealous?"

"Fratello!"

"Just look at him, he has so not expecting that you could have liked someone else."

"Stop that! You're making Ludwig uncomfortable, fratello!" Feliciano himself was completely flustered.

"Ah, no, I just… that's not it… I'm sorry I asked you something like that…" Ludwig was blushing a bit, and he couldn't even decide why. "But… the point is… you started acting like this… because you didn't want people to worry anymore?"

"Are you that slow? He thought that if he was all gloomy everyone else would leave him as well… really fratello, you're just as stupid as he is, damn it! Do you think we would hate you for being sad after that?"

"Well… I was quite young, and I made some… weird conclusions back then…"

"And now what? 'cause you're pretty damn old by now, and you're still making some really messed up conclusions up to this day, aren't you?" Romano was at last out of patience, way too much time dealing with this, and he was quite done.

"Sorry… fratello…" Feliciano felt a bit scared from how annoyed his brother was by then.

Feeling that it was good enough, and seeing that the southern Italian was pretty much at his limit, Ludwig decided to stop the questioning. "It's a bit late… right? And it's being quite a stressful day so… maybe we should head back already, don't you think?" Hopefully that would be enough.

"About time, I would say! I can't take this anymore, and Feliciano, we'll talk about this in the future, don't think I'm done with you! Be grateful that I'm freaking tired!"

"Ah, can you wait, I kinda need to get some stuff that I left somewhere, and…"

"You gotta be kidding me…"

"I can go with him, it's not as if he was going to run away again, so…"

"Fine, go look for whatever it is you need, I'm going home to throw all those weirdos out already, you better not take too long though!"

"Thanks, Fratello, it'll be just a few minutes."

And with that a very angry Italian walked away feeling that he needed the longest siesta ever.

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><p><strong>And that's it, not a very long chapter, sorry about that, hopefully it'll be ok. Thanks so much for waiting, for reading, and to anyone that started reading during this insane hiatus. See you soon! <strong>


	15. Chapter 15

**Here it is! Another slightly short chapter, but I hope you still like it.**

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><p>Chapter 15<p>

"So, what is it that you need?"

"Uh? Ah, yeah, we need to go to the place I was hiding… well… I mean… just last night though…"

"Now that I think about it, you never said what you were doing these last few days… were you on a good place? Weren't you… umm… lonely, or cold?"

Feliciano just looked at his face, and smiled a little bit. "I really made you worry, uh? I'm so sorry, Luddy…" He giggled a bit when the blush on the German's face darkened. "The fist day wasn't very good but… I spent most of the time on a rather nice place… Ah, I've always wanted to take you there! But it'll take a while, so maybe after everything's ok again…"

"Sure… I'll go. I'm glad you weren't cold or anything like that…"

"But I missed Luddy a lot, you know?"

At that point Germany was completely flustered, so the Italian decided it would be better if they just went to the basement in which he had his suitcase. It took them a little bit to get there, though it was enough the get Ludwig lost again.

"No wonder I had such a hard time finding you, this city's streets are labyrinths… is this place even yours?"

"Yup, I own some little places beside my house with fratello… Umm, I kinda like to have somewhere to go when I want to be on my own… ah! But don't worry, it's not as if I plan to hide again, so don't get the wrong idea!"

The blond looked at him for a moment, and smiled a little. "You know… even after all this mess… you are still the same… even if you say you were faking… you're still your usual self… though, I'll remember that you said you could run faster while training."

"Oh… maybe I shouldn't have said that, uh?" He giggled a bit. "Do you really think, I'm the same? I kinda feel lighter now… It's being a good while… so much that I can't remember…"

"Ja, but I know that feeling… and you indeed… seem to be better… not sure how, but you look happier…"

"Is that so?" he asked smiling softly.

**oOoOoOoOo**

In the main Italian house, Lovino discovered that going back on his own had being a terrible idea. Every other nation was asking what in the world had happened, where was Feli, Ludwig. The never-ending questions were driving him crazy, and he just couldn't take it anymore.

"Can you shut up already? I told ya, he's fine, he'll be here soon, ask him the questions you want… actually, call him later, go out now!"

"Come on, that's a bit too harsh, don't you think? We were really worried, all this time!" Said the Hungarian a bit bothered.

"Just go out, now!"

The Spaniard looked at Lovino, and then back to everyone. And even though he knew they were just worried, he also knew that all this people was a bit too much for Romano, and Feliciano would probably be real tired as well, so he decided to help a bit. "You know, Lovi is kinda right, and now we know Feli's fine, and he probably won't want to be asked a bunch of questions right after coming back so… it's about time to go home, isn't it? We can talk to him some other day." He gave his best smile to everyone, and even though they weren't completely sure, they agreed to go for the time being.

The smaller man sighed relieved, yet still annoyed, because there was someone left in the house. "Aren't you going to do what you just said, hypocrite bastard?" Not that he wanted to be alone, but thanking him was not in his plans.

He just smiled at him, poor Romano looked so tired. "I know, I know, but someone needs to wait for them while you sleep a bit, uh? Just go have a nap Lovi, your beloved boss is here, and will take care of everything."

The Italian glared at him for a second, but he didn't feel like arguing anymore, and deep inside him, he was actually thankful that there was someone he could trust for this. "Anyways, that's what I going to do, you moron!" He started going to the second floor, but remembered something, and with a very low voice he added "Grazie…" Then he ran upstairs, and closed his bedroom's door.

Antonio couldn't help but giggle a bit. "God, Lovi, why are you so cute?"

**oOoOoOoOo**

It was about half an hour later when he heard someone knocking on the front door, so he rushed to open it, before it could wake up Lovino. In front of him was Luwig, which seemed to be talking to someone behind him.

"I'm telling you they are not angry at you, it's just your brother that has that kind of attitude…"

"Uh, Feliciano?" Antonio started. "If you were worried, everyone went home already, so…"

Immediately the younger italian's face showed up behind Ludwig, he was still looking down, but seemed relieved. "Hi… big brother Spain… uh… sorry about that… is… is my brother home?"

"Roma is sleeping right now, just come in you too, aren't you cold out there?" He tried smiling so that he would feel better. "What about a hug for me, or maybe a cheer up charm? Ah, maybe you're hungry, I can just go and cook something, do you want anything?"

"We ate something in the city so we are just fine…" The German said as he entered, and after him Feliciano.

The smaller man stared for a bit at the smiling Spaniard before hugging him. "I'm really sorry…"

"It's ok, it's ok, why don't you go up, and sleep a bit. I'll stay here with Ludwig. You don't have to worry for today, just rest as much as you need, ok?"

"Ah, yeah" He looked at the blond for a second, and back to Antonio. "I'll do that… I'll go to sleep then."

The two men sat in the living room, one, smiling contently, and the other one, with his eyes fixed in the window in from of them. It was an awkward atmosphere, at least for the German, who had no clue why he was there, and so he just waited till the other man said something. Which took some good minutes, since said man wasn't bothered by silence at all, considering how little moments like this he usually had.

"Ah, Ludwig… I'm sure France would be delighted if you kept it but… I was under the impression that you didn't like that outfit." Antonio chuckled as Germany got completely flustered and stood up immediately, but he just stood there frozen.

"Uh… do you… do you know what did they do to my uniform?" he said stuttering a bit. This was becoming an embarrassing habit.

"Oh, you're right! It's probably on Ita's room… but if you go now, you'll wake him up… or Roma… that's no good, is it?"

Sighing, the German sat again on the couch. "I think I'll keep it on for now…"

"Yeah…"

Finally noticing how uncomfortable the other one was, Antonio just changed topics. "Aren't you tired as well? There are a lot of rooms in this house if you want to sleep for a while…"

"I doubt I could sleep at all at the moment… but thanks…"

"Uh? Wasn't everything solved by now? Is there anything that is still worrying you?" Now he was just curious, he had never talked much to the German, but this was definitely not the attitude that he was expecting.

"Well… not really, I just heard a bit about… this person that Italy… liked? Yeah… he said something like that… and… it's not my business so I couldn't ask anymore… but I kept on wondering, you know? Because Romano said I was the only one that didn't know about it…"

He looked a bit surprised. "Lovi said that… not that he was lying, but it was probably a bad timing…"

"So you really know about it too… Would it… be bad if I ask you to tell me a bit? Or maybe Feliciano wouldn't like that…"

He smiled softly as he spoke "I don't really think it would be that bad, but maybe your brother wouldn't want me too... That is kinda his job, you should probably ask him at some point"

"What does he have to do with…"

"Just ask him, Lud. Ah, it sounds like someone got up, maybe my little Lovi was missing me."

"Who missed you, tomato bastard?" The Italian yelled from upstairs.

**oOoOoOoOo**

Feliciano sat on his bed, looking around his room, it seemed so long since he had being there the last time, and he remembered all his plans, sneaking in the house, avoiding everyone, lying… It was a bit silly now that he could look back peacefully; he had done so much just because he was sure Ludwig would hate him, he made the big mistake of not trusting him. He sighed. His brother was right; he made some really messed up conclusions after all.

But now, here on his room, after all that mess, he finally felt at peace, one that he missed for quite some time; he reached for his pocket to get the last letter he had. There was just this little thing to do, but in his mind there was a whole new plan to make it right, nothing as complicated as his previews one, he just needed to be in the right special place to do this.

He folded the small sheet of paper again, and hide it in his suitcase before going back to lie in bed. Now it was all right, he could definitely sleep again, though it would be better if Ludwig had being there with him, but for this once, it was just fine.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's it! Now, I'm just trying to decide if I should finish this with one or two more chapters. I have the last one in my mind already, so what do you think? Thanks to everyone for their reviews, and to the people that started following the story too! <strong>


	16. Chapter 16

**Here's the new chapter! We are really near to the end! Anyways I hope you like it~**

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><p>Chapter 16<p>

Lovino woke up as he heard a door closing nearby. He knew who it was, but it seemed as if it was dark outside already, so he figured he might as well let his brother sleep. The problem was, that it also meant that someone he didn't really want to see was in the house as well. He sat on his bed and stared at the now black window, it was a bit nerve wrecking so he quickly closed the curtains. It wasn't as if he was scared though, it was just about time to close them. Right?

Feeling a bit uncomfortable alone in his room, he remembered one of the reasons he hated the german. This house, in which he was finally able to live together with his brother, was so empty most of the time, and it was of course, because Feliciano spent half the time in the house of that man. Lovino looked up at the ceiling. Being a little honest, such a big house, empty, and dark, scared him a little bit. Not that much! Just a bit. And that's why he used to go to the Spaniard's home. No other reason though, since said man was so bothersome… right?

But it was enough, if he kept on thinking that way he would just feel depressed. "Stupid fratello, stop forgetting me, at least for once."

By the time he opened the door he heard a familiar voice. "Ah, it sounds like someone got up, maybe my little Lovi was missing me."

He wouldn't admit that the stupid man was always there when he was feeling lonely, and he never asked a thing if he showed up at 3 in the morning. He sighed and smiled knowing that he couldn't see him.

"Who missed you, tomato bastard?" He yelled.

**oOoOoOoOo**

Ludwig woke up, noticing that the sun was already quite bright. He had no clue what time it was, but he had overslept, no doubt about it. Last night he had hurriedly gone to some of the guest's rooms so that he could avoid an angry Italian staring at him as if he had just killed someone.

Luckily, he was exhausted, and fell asleep in no time. And now there he was, in some bed in the Italian brothers' house, not sure what to expect after all the mess from the last few days was over.

He didn't have too much time to think about it, though, since a little knock on his door, and a nice familiar voice called for him. "Luddy, its time to wake up, fratello, and big brother Spain made breakfast." After that the Italian opened the door slightly, and whispered. "Lovino is not very happy, so you better hurry." And with that he closed the door, and was gone in a second.

The german stared at the door wondering if this Feliciano was the same he had talked to the day before. But he knew it was. On second thought, the Italian said something about an angry brother… Yeah, Ludwig was so not looking forward to that. Anyways, he was finally able to get his uniform back, and get ready, and it took him about 15 minutes to be down stairs. But it was too late.

"Finally, uh? Well, I already ate your food, you can go back home, and make your own breakfast, potato bastard!" Yelled the angry older brother.

"Fratello! Lud he's lying, I'm guarding your food, you see?" Responded the younger one smiling at the blond.

"You too Feliciano, go and have sausages as your breakfast for the rest of your days!"

"Lovino, don't be so mean, and it's not every day, right Lud? Sometimes I make pasta too, and… ah, they are called wurst, you know fratello?"

"As if I care! And don't you ever have a normal breakfast? Not even I eat pasta so early!"

The Spaniard just looked at them giggling while eating carelessly.

Going back to his house didn't sound so bad, Ludwig thought.

**oOoOoOoOo**

It had being a really noisy morning, and while Antonio seemed to be having a lot of fun seeing the Italian brothers "talking", Germany was already feeling exhausted. However after finishing their food there was an awkward silence, since they were a bit unsure about what to do next. Were they supposed to ask something, or just keep on going as if nothing had happened?

Finally, Lovino decided to go ahead, and start the conversation, since such helpless people surrounded him. "Feliciano, are we supposed to keep on playing this game forever? Or are you intending to talk about what happened? I'm still waiting for that explanation that I guess the potato bastard already got from you."

The younger Italian knew he was right, so he looked at his brother, and nodded. He was still a bit hesitant, and not really confident, but he did ought his brother some answers.

"Then let's go upstairs, I would rather talk to you in private"

Feliciano just nodded again, and followed his brother.

Ludwig couldn't' help it but being a bit concerned about the two of them, Lovino did seemed to be a bit too angry. "Do you think it's going to be all right? He's not going to end up yelling at him or something, right?" He asked the other man.

Antonio smiled softly. "No need to worry, Lud. Lovi just needs some space to have an honest talk. And… I thought you would have figured out by now that he's not like that all the time. Also, he's a big brother, you know? He was just worried."

"Well, he was a bit different from time to time but… you have to admit that when it comes to me, he's not that happy either…"

"Uhm… you might be right, but you can't blame him for being jealous, can you?"

Ludwig stared at him with a blank look on his eyes, and suddenly he was reminded of Lovino's words. "Of course I hate you because he needs you more than he needs me!" That probably wasn't completely true, but… what about that was actually real? Was he more important to Feliciano than his own brother in any way? It was a bit messed up, now that he was thinking about it, and he didn't quite get it.

"Ludwig?" The spaniard's voice called for him. "Are you ok?"

"Uh… ah, ja, ja… I was just thinking… Anyways, I need some fresh air… I'll go out for a walk, so tell Feli… Feliciano that if he comes down before I'm back."

"Sure, no problem." Answered Antonio.

And with that Ludwig went out.

**oOoOoOoOo**

The door to the younger brother's room closed after them. Feliciano sat on his bed, and Lovino got a chair for himself. They remained silent for a couple of minutes, but there was something that needed to be said.

"Fratello… I'm sorry…" A soft voice said.

"Uh? About what, 'cause you know there's a bunch of stuff…" But he couldn't finish his sentence.

"About everything! This, and lying, and forgetting about you… And… not trusting you…" He was almost out of breath since he had said it all so fast, except for that last part that came out as a whisper.

Lovino just sighed, once again. He placed his hand on his brother's shoulder, and patted it a couple of times. "At least now you get it, that's a good beginning."

Feliciano looked up at his brother's face, and encountered understanding eyes that he hadn't seen in quite some time. Romano wasn't smiling, but he was making him feel at ease, that everything was ok. He had been so silly. So this was what big brothers are for, uh?

"There you see, if you had come to me when you were lonely, none of this would have happened… But I'll let it go since I'm a good brother, make sure don't forget about that again." He just looked away slightly embarrassed at his own words.

Feliciano smiled, and nodded happily. "Did you learn that from big brother spain, fratello?" He had asked out of mere curiosity, but kind of regretted in instantly as he run down stairs followed by his angry brother.

"Who learned anything from that idiot, stupid fratello!" Lovino yelled completely flustered.

**oOoOoOoOo**

Ludwig walked calmly through the house's gardens. They were mostly orchards; there were tomatoes, basil… and well, a lot of things he couldn't name at all. It was refreshing to be outside, just surrounded by plants, instead of crazy people for a change.

The german was still wondering why Lovino was jealous. He could imagine some reasons, but none of them seemed quite right. Or at least enough to hate him, though he still thought that the Italian had quite a bad temper to start with. He was completely lost in thought by the time someone aggressively hugged him, or at least it seemed quite aggressive to him.

"What… Feliciano?" he asked a bit confused.

"Did I scare you Luddy?" He giggled. "Sorry about that, but, do you remember I told you I wanted to take you to some place? Cause I think we could get going tomorrow and…"

"Did you just say tomorrow?" He can't be serious Ludwig thought.

"Yup, I already have my bag, well, it was almost ready anyways."

The Italian was smiling so happily that he couldn't question anything, or say no. It was the story of his life. Ludwig sighed. "I guess it's ok then… just let me go home and get some clothes, because there's no way I'm taking the frilly monster that France made to… wherever this place you want to take me to is." He blushed a little remembering that he had being dressed as a clown a just some hours ago.

"Awww big brother would be so sad if he heard that!"

"As if I care." He said harshly without thinking it twice.

"You just sounded like Lovino!" The Italian seemed amused.

Ludwig froze. Maybe he really needed to get out of that house as soon as possible if he was already speaking like the crazy older brother.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's it! The next one will be the last chapter for this fan fiction. I already have some new stories in mind, but I'll make sure to finish this one first, I promise! See you soon!<strong>


	17. Chapter 17

**Oh god, this was so difficult to write, and it took me forever, but finally, the last chapter is here! **

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><p>Chapter 17<p>

This trip had being way longer than the german was expecting it to be. The bus they were traveling in was packed with tourists, asleep tourists to top it all. Luckily, at least the seats were quite comfortable, he thought trying to be a bit more positive, but it was certainly taking quite some time to get to, god knows where, Feliciano was taking him. He couldn't complain though, it was true that the italian had offered to drive up there, but Ludwig had learned his lesson long ago. He refused in a second; there was no way he could let him drive his precious car, or any car at all… So they had no other choice than the bus.

And also, he had to admit that he was already feeling a bit curious about this place, it looked less, and less like Italy every minute, and it was certainly getting colder, and colder as well. There was this really large lake that seemed to never end, and some high mountains covered by trees. Where were they going? He couldn't even ask, since Feliciano was soundly sleeping in the seat next to him.

On second thought, he was sleeping, right? The blond man looked at the relaxed face of his friend, breathing softly, with no worries. The recent events were still fresh on his mind, the Italian talking about his sleeping issues; Ludwig couldn't help but wonder if he was actually sleeping now. A bit hesitant, he touched Feliciano's cheek, but almost immediately stopped himself. That was really weird, right? What was he doing?

The smaller man just made a little sound, and turned to the window looking slightly annoyed. So he was really sleeping, he thought feeling relieved.

Not too long after that, they entered what seemed like a really small town, but something was out of place. He was sure they were still in Italy, but it didn't seem so. Something about those houses' design was rather familiar to him. When the bus stopped he woke up Feliciano, who was a bit confused for a second, but as soon as he noticed that they were already there he looked ecstatic.

"Luddy! We're here! What do you think? Do you like it? Come on, we have to get down, don't worry about our bags, we'll come back for them later." The Italian rushed down the bus as he pulled his friend's hand.

"Ja, ja, calm down…" He said faking annoyance, but he was really curious by now.

Once they were out of the bus Ludwig was completely sure something wasn't right. "Feliciano… where in the world… are we still in Italy?"

The smaller man spoke giggling a bit. "Yeah, we sure are! Why would you ask?" He said with a little mischievous smile on his face.

"Well… to start with… why are all the signs… in german? And that's not saying the look of this buildings…"

Feliciano laughed. "Well, that's the whole point, you silly!" But Ludwig looked really confused, so he explained a little more. "I always wanted to bring you here, since I figured you would be more comfortable. You can speak to everyone, they speak mostly german. We're actually quite near to Austria…" He looked around for a second. "And I was hiding here the last few days, since it reminded me a lot of you…"

"So… you were here all this time?" Maybe Ludwig was imagining it, but it looked like Feliciano was slightly blushing.

"Si… I was… feeling kinda lonely without Luddy… that's why I came here…"

There was an awkward silence for a second, before the Italian walked towards a nearby road calling for his friend. "Come on, Luddy. We can talk about that later. There's something else you need to see first, someone will take our bags later, so don't worry, si?"

He looked around a little more before following him. This place was indeed interesting; it did feel a bit like home. Just a couple of minutes after that, the lake appeared in front of them again. He stopped, thinking that his eyes were playing games on him. "Feliciano… why is that… there?" he said pointing at the clock tower in the water.

"Weird, right?" The italian sighed while smiling softly. "This isn't a natural lake, you see? There used to be some little towns over there, and that was the church's tower, but that's all that's left… It's a bit nostalgic, don't you think, Luddy?"

"Is that so?" He thought about it for a minute as he noticed his friend's mood getting a bit gloomy. The old towns that were now underwater, the memories of the people who used to lived there, and this tower, standing alone in the water, just a fragment of it all. "Doesn't it make you sad?" He asked feeling a bit down himself.

"Uh?" He was caught off guard by the question. "Well, just a bit… I mean, this area had always been conflictive, and I do remember quite some stuff about this place before the lake, but… I feel like I can make some happy memories in here now for a change."

Ludwig barely heard him, he was lost in thought, this was a rather emotional scene for the other man, and yet he had brought him here. Every nation had points like this; a lot of history that not everyone remembered, a lot of memories of what once existed, and now was gone.

Feliciano just patted his shoulder, and smiled at him. "But it just seems like the perfect place for Luddy, and me, right?"

He just looked at him; the Italian didn't look sad anymore, so he decided to let go of the negative thinking as well. "Ja… it's nice to be able to read for a change…"

"That's what I thought!" He said happily. "Now you can tell me what all this signs mean!"

"Wait a minute… you can't read them? You wouldn't bring me all the way here just for that, right?"

"Well, it's true that I can't… but that's not it, Luddy!" Feliciano looked truly mortified. "I just wanted to come here with you!"

He couldn't help but smile a bit. Silly Feliciano, he thought.

**oOoOoOoOo**

They had stayed there for a little while, and later had a cup of coffee on a restaurant that was just in front of the lake. Right after that, they headed to what Feliciano called "his little hideout", which ended up being a rather misleading name according to the german, since the log cabin was quite impressive.

Ludwig couldn't help feeling a bit surprised; he had imagined Feliciano alone in some sad, rickety place for the past few days. But it ended up being this really nice house that looked like a small mountain lodge.

"So, what do you think, Luddy? It's quite charming, isn't it?" said the proud owner with a bright smile.

"Ja, it's actually a nice place…"

"I'm so glad you like it Luddy!" said the Italian jumping to the kitchen. "Aren't you hungry? I'll go make us something to eat, our bags are upstairs if you need something!"

"Oh, ok, I'll go check them for now…" But no one heard him, since Feliciano was already in the kitchen, doing something, and whatever it was, it was really noisy.

Not wanting to get involved in that he went upstairs to look for his bags.

This was indeed a nice place, comfortable, warm, and cozy. Ludwig found himself enjoying it already; it seemed like the perfect place to forget the rush of work, or the recent problems. And with that thought, he felt his body relaxing a bit; things were all right now.

He found their bags on the bed. He wondered for a second if there was any other bed in that place, but there sure had to be, right? Not wasting too much time in that, and being the tidy person we was, he couldn't help but wanting to unpack as soon as possible, and organize their clothes before they got too wrinkled.

His own clothes were nicely arranged in the suitcase, so it was just a couple of minutes with that. The italian's bag on the other hand… The german sighed, it's not as if he had expected something else, but that was one crazy mess. But Ludwig took it as a challenge; he could do this for sure.

Actually, it looked more like a treasure chest; he kept on finding random stuff hidden under the mountain of clothes. He smiled a bit at the German dictionary, it was such a silly thing to have, but it made him a bit happy that Feliciano would try to understand his language. It took about half an hour to get the clothes on the closet, but he still had quite some stuff on the bed since he had no idea what to do with it. Ludwig could understand the sketching notebook, the camera… but did he really need the miniature white flag?

Fifteen more minutes went by, and it was almost ready, there was just this little thing that he was trying to ignore. The small folded paper that was under everything else in Feliciano's bag. He usually wouldn't care about it, but he could still remember the letter he got back in Venice, which looked just like this, and Ludwig was somehow curious about that it. But he couldn't check it, something like that would be wrong, completely wrong. He was still there, frozen in front of the bag, when the Italian showed up calling him to eat, but as soon as he saw what was in front of the german, he rushed, and closed the bag.

"Ah, Luddy! You unpacked everything? He, thank you… eh… why don't you go down? Lunch's ready so… Ah, but thank you, I'll take care of this now, so just go, and I'll be there in a minute…" his face was very red, and the words were spoken really fast.

"Uh… Feliciano…" He wasn't sure if he wanted to ask, since this situation was suddenly a bit of a déjà vu. He decided that he couldn't let go of it that easily; curiosity was becoming another horrible bad habit for him. "Feliciano… you don't have to tell me if you don't want to but… that paper… uh, it just reminded me… but it's not as if I didn't trust you! It's just…" He was stuttering again, the second bad habit was officially back.

But despite that, the Italian immediately understood what he meant, and panicked a bit. "No, no, it's nothing like that! It's not something that I can't show to Ludwig, it's just… it's just… I didn't thought it would be… so soon…" He looked down, getting even more flustered, if that was even possible. He sighed. "My plans never go as expected, uh?" He murmured, most likely for himself.

"So soon?" He looked at the Italian, there was no way he could ignore his red face, but what was happening?

"Well… yeah… I was going to give it to you… at some point, but…" But the words no longer came out of his throat. Feliciano was scared; it seemed so clear back when he was in that basement, but now… Now that everything was happening so fast he knew that he hadn't thought this through. What would happen if the other man didn't... And he was already here; there was no way he could run away again… No, he just couldn't do that ever again.

But Ludwig's voice calling him, and a gentle hand messing with his hair calmed him down.

"You don't have… to show it to me now if you don't want to… It's ok… I'm sorry if I was too curious... So don't look so frightened, please?"

Those understanding blue eyes looking worriedly at him, the warm hand that was still on his head, and something inside him made the fear go away. He breathed deeply, and decided to take a leap of faith.

"You know Luddy…" He took the other man's hand and put the paper in it. "I think… Maybe my plans keep on failing for a reason… You can have it now… so… yeah…" He looked away. It was done, and he just had to wait now.

The blond man looked at the white note; still folded on his hand… suddenly his curiosity was replaced with a bit of fear… But it was too late for that, and Feliciano was waiting for him to read it.

He carefully unfolded it, and slowly started reading, it was just a couple of paragraphs, but it took him like five minutes. His eyes widened. He had to read again. What was this note… because it seemed like a… no… it was for sure a love confession… right? He froze, what did he think about this? He was not sure, he felt like running, but he couldn't do that, his mind was blank until a small hand touched his shoulder.

"Ve, Luddy… it's ok if you don't… feel the same… so… don't worry… ok?" Said a trembling voice.

The german looked down, to meet the italian's eyes, tears forming on the corners, but also he was smiling softly.

And that was it, that sad face was breaking his heart, he knew that he couldn't let him cry, he just wanted him to smile happily, to mess with his hair so that he would forget his problems, and take care of him as he slept so that he no longer felt alone. His mind was in order again, and in a moment he had it clear. And there was one thing he needed to do immediately.

Ludwig pulled the smaller man into a tight hug, silently; hopefully his answer would be evident to the other man.

Feliciano wasn't sure what was happening, was Ludwig feeling bad for him, did he wanted him to stop crying? He knew he didn't want to let go, but he needed to know for sure. "Luddy… what… I really need you to tell me… I can't understand if you are like this…" He was internally praying for it to be what he was imagining… that was all that he could do.

Now, it was really happening, he actually needed to form words about this. Ludwig felt the air escaping his lungs, how could he say this, he wasn't even aware until a moment ago… well… that wasn't entirely true… he did noticed something when Feliciano was away from him… He felt so lonely; he worried so much… maybe… that would be it?

" Ah… Feliciano… you know…" He breathed again; he could do this. "On those days you were missing… I really… yeah… I wanted you to be back… so badly… I couldn't stand the idea of you being suffering on your own… I just wanted to find you, and… make sure you wouldn't cry… or feel sad at all… And hug you till you smiled again... I don't know anything about this but... but if you can call that… uh..." Just a little more; he thought looking away. "If you can call that love… I think you could say… I do… love… you." Even though the last part came as a really soft whisper, he knew he had said it.

The Italian looked up in a second, and even though he was looking to the side he could see the german's completely flustered face. His heart felt warm. He had said it, Ludwig really said it… and… Feliciano was sure he was not going to say anything more… it was already amazing that he could say it. So he thought, it was his turn to do something…

He threw his arms around his neck, and hugged him tight, until the other man finally hugged him back. And like that, Feliciano just whispered in his ear. "Ti amo, Ludwig." And gave him a quick kiss before running downstairs. "Our food is probably super cold by now, you better hurry." He yelled as he ran. It was not fair to the other one, but he was so nervous that he couldn't do anything else. He was incredibly happy though.

So Ludwig was left alone, so embarrassed that he thought he could die any moment, but also, he was happy, like never before. There was a feeling that he was finally home, and it weren't the german signs, or the houses, it wasn't even the log cabin. It felt as if he had finally arrived to the place where he belonged.

He smiled to himself, now that he thought about it, the Italian had stolen a kiss from him… and he had to pay him back.

* * *

><p><strong>And we're finished! I hope it was a good ending for it, and that you liked it. This fanfic took way longer than expected, and was actually my first one, so I'm both happy, and a little sad that it's over. But I already have a list of ideas that I want to write, and a little funny one shot that might be up one of this days! Anyways, thank you so much to everyone that read up to the last one, thanks so, so much!<strong>


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